# verse

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


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


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


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Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.<br/> <e><i>Two Visions</i></e>


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


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


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


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I will utter My judgements against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods and worshipped the works of their own hands.


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


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


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


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Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, I remember the kindness of your youth, the love at the time of your marriage; how you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.


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Israel was holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of His increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them’, says Yahweh.


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


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


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


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


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Therefore I will yet contend with you, says Yahweh, and I will contend with your children’s children.


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


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


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For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.<br/> <e><i>Results of Israel's Unfaithfulness</i></e>


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The young lions have roared at him and yelled, they have desolated his land. His cities are burned up without inhabitant.


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Haven’t you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when He led you by the way?


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;


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who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have brought me forth’; for they have turned their back to Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us’.


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But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah.<br/> <e><i>Israel Rebels against God</i></e>


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I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.


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Generation, consider the word of Yahweh. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to You no more?’.


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Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.


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How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have taught even the wicked women your ways.


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Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts, even though you did not catch them in the act of burglary.


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Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger has turned away from me’. Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned’.


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Why do you go about so much, ever changing your way? You will be shamed by Egypt, just as you were shamed by Assyria.


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From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head; for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.


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<e><i>Israel and Judah Likened to an Unfaithful Wife</i></e><br/> They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and become another man’s, should he return to her again?’. Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to Me, says Yahweh.


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Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them by the ways, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.


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Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed.


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‘Will He retain His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.


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Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute.


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I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to Me;’ but she didn’t return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.


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I saw, when, for the very reason of committing adultery that I had put away and given a bill of divorce to backsliding Israel, then treacherous Judah her sister didn’t fear; but likewise went and played the prostitute.


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It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.


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Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but only in pretence, says Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>God Wants Israel to Return to Him</i></e>


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Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel’, says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful’, says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever.


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Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed My voice’, says Yahweh.


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Return, backsliding children, says Yahweh; for I am a husband to you. I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.


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I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.


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It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Yahweh, they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh!’ neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.


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At that time they shall call Jerusalem ‘The throne of Yahweh;’ and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.


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In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.


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But I thought how I would set you among My children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations; and I thought you would call Me My Father, and would not turn away from following Me’.


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Surely as a wife faithlessly departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with Me, house of Israel, says Yahweh.


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A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.


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Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we have come to You; for You are Yahweh our God.


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Truly in vain is help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God.


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But the shameful thing has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.


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Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.


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<e><i>Repentance Needed</i></e><br/> If you will return, Israel, says Yahweh, if you will return to Me, and if you will put away your abominations out of My sight; then you shall not be removed;


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and you shall swear, ‘As Yahweh lives’, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory.


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For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns.


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Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.


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<e><i>Judah to be Invaded</i></e><br/> Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem; say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!’


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Set up a standard towards Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.


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A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.


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For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us.


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It shall happen at that day, says Yahweh, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.


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Then I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem in saying, ‘You shall have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.


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At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness towards the daughter of My people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;


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Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.


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Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?


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Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country and lift up their voice against the cities of Judah.


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As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against Me’, says Yahweh.


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Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah's Vision of Destruction</i></e>


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My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can’t hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.


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Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.


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For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skilful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.


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I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before His fierce anger.


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For this the land will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, neither will I go back from it.


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Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, not a man dwells therein.


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You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.


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For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands saying, Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.


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<e><i>The Sins of Jerusalem</i></e><br/> Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justice, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.


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O Yahweh, don’t Your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.


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Then I said, Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God.


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I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.


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Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.


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How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken Me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses.


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Shouldn’t I punish them for these things? says Yahweh; and shouldn’t My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?


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Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh’s.


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For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me, says Yahweh.


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They have denied Yahweh and said, It is not He; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it shall devour them.<br/> <e><i>Israel to be Invaded</i></e>


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Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel, says Yahweh. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know, nor understand what they say.


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They shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. They shall beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.


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It will happen, when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just like you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours’.


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‘Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear:


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Don’t you fear Me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it’.


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Neither do they say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Yahweh our God who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest’.


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For among My people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.


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As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they became great and grew rich.


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They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t judge the right of the needy.


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Shall I not punish for these things? says Yahweh. Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?


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The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and My people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?


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<e><i> A Warning for the People</i></e><br/> Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.


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Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her all around; they shall feed each one in his place.


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Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.


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For Yahweh of Armies said, Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.


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As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before Me continually is grief and woundedness.


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Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.


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To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, the word of Yahweh has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.


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Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yahweh. I am weary with holding in. Pour it out on the youths in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.


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Their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out My hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh.


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For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.


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They have healed also the hurt of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.


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Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, says Yahweh.


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Thus says Yahweh, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’.


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I set watchmen over you saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’. But they said, ‘We will not listen!’.


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Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My words; and as for My law, they have rejected it.


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To what purpose comes there to Me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to Me.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them. The neighbour and his friend shall perish.<br/> <e><i>Invasion from the North</i></e>


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Thus says Yahweh, Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.


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They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, each one set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.


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We have heard its report; our hands become feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, pains as of a woman in labour.


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Don’t go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side.


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Daughter of My people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.


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I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among My people; that you may know and try their way.


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They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.


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The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Preaches at the Temple Gate</i></e><br/> The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying,


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Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.


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For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour;


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if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:


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then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even for evermore.


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Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known,


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and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are saved; so that you may do all these abominations?


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Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh.


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But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel.


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Now, because you have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer:


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therefore thus will I do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.


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I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.<br/> <e><i>The People's Disobedience</i></e>


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Therefore don’t pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.


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The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.


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Do they provoke Me to anger? says Yahweh. Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, My anger and My wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat.


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For I didn’t speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:


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but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to My voice, and I will be Your God, and you shall be My people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.


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But they didn’t listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.


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Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:


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yet they didn’t listen to Me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.


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You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.


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You shall tell them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.<br/> <e><i>The Sinful Deeds of the People of Judah</i></e>


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Cut off your hair and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.


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For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight, says Yahweh: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.


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They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into My mind.


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Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.


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The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.


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Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.


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At that time, says Yahweh, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;


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and they shall spread them before the sun, the moon and all the army of the sky which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.


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Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Yahweh of Armies.<br/> <e><i>False Wisdom</i></e>


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Moreover you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn the wrong way, and not return?


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Why then is this people of Jerusalem sliding back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.


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I listened and heard, but they didn’t speak aright: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Each one turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.


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Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but My people don’t know Yahweh’s law.


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How do you say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.


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The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh; and what kind of wisdom is in them?


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Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for each one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest each one deals falsely.


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They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.


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Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Yahweh.


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I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.


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Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh.


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The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein.


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For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Mourns for His People</i></e>


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Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Isn’t Yahweh in Zion? Isn’t her King in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?


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Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?


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Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!


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Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.<br/> <e><i>God's Reply to Jeremiah</i></e>


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They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know Me, says Yahweh.


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Beware everyone of his neighbour, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will go about with slanders.


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They will deceive each one his neighbour and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how should I deal with the daughter of My people?


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Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him.


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Shall I not visit them for these things, says Yahweh; shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?


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For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone.


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I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.


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Who is the wise man, that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?


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Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein,


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but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them;


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therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.


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I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.<br/> <e><i>The Wailing Women Summoned</i></e>


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come:


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and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.


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For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.


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Yet hear the word of Yahweh, you women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and each one her neighbour lamentation.


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For death has come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.


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Speak, Thus says Yahweh, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and none shall gather them.


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Thus says Yahweh, Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don’t let the rich man glory in his riches;


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but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.


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Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will punish all those who are circumcised along with the uncircumcised:


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Egypt, Judah, Edom and the children of Ammon, Moab and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.


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Thus says Yahweh, Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.


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For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.


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They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.


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They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak: they must be carried, because they can’t walk. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah's Praise of God</i></e>


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Who should not fear You, King of the nations? For it is appropriate for You; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like You.


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There is silver beaten into plates which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men.


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But Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and an everlasting King: at His wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to withstand His indignation.


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You shall say this to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.


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He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding has He stretched out the heavens:


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when He utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasuries.


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Every man has become primitive and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.


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The portion of Jacob is not like these; for He is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is His name.<br/> <e><i>Coming Destruction</i></e>


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For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.


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Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.


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My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.


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For the shepherds are become primitive, and have not inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.


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The voice of proclamation, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.


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Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.


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Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don’t know You, and on the families that don’t call on Your name: for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.


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Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;


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and say to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Cursed is the man who doesn’t hear the words of this covenant,


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which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace saying, Obey My voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so you shall be My people, and I will be your God;


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that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then answered I and said, Amen, Yahweh.


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Yahweh said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.


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For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting saying, Obey My voice.


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Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them.


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Yahweh said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry to Me, but I will not listen to them.


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Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.


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For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.


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Therefore don’t pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to Me because of their trouble.


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What has My beloved to do in My house, since she has worked lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice.


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Yahweh called your name, A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.


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For Yahweh of Armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking Me to anger by offering incense to Baal.


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Yahweh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then You showed me their evil deeds.<br/> <e><i>A Plot to Kill Jeremiah</i></e>


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But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I didn’t know that they had devised devices against me saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.


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But, Yahweh of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I shall see Your vengeance on them; for to You have I opened up my cause.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life saying, You shall not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, that you not die by our hand;


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therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;


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and there shall be no remnant to them: for I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Reasons With God</i></e><br/> You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with You; yet I would reason the cause with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously?


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You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.


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But You, Yahweh, know me; You see me, and try my heart towards You: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.


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How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.


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If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?


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For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; even they have cried aloud after you: don’t believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you.<br/> <e><i>God Rejects His People</i></e>


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I have forsaken My house, I have cast off My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.


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My heritage has become to Me as a lion in the forest: she has uttered her voice against Me; therefore I have hated her.


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Is My heritage to Me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour.


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Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.


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They have made it a desolation; it mourns to Me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart.


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Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace.


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They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>God's Promise to Other Nations</i></e>


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Thus says Yahweh against all My evil neighbours, who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit: behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.


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It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his inheritance, and every man to his land.


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It shall happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, As Yahweh lives; even as they taught My people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of My people.


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But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Yahweh.


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<e><i>Jeremiah's Linen Belt</i></e><br/> Thus said Yahweh to me, Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water.


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Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.


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It happened after many days that Yahweh said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there.


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Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined, it was unfit for use.


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This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.


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For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused to cling to Me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Yahweh; that they may be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.<br/> <e><i>Wine Jars</i></e>


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Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall tell you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?


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Then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.


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I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Yahweh: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.<br/> <e><i>The Pride and Shame of Jerusalem</i></e>


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Give glory to Yahweh your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.


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But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock is taken captive.


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Say to the king and to the queen mother, Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses have come down, even the crown of your glory.


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The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.


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Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?


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What will you say, when He shall punish you? You have provoked them to be captains and rulers over you. Shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?


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If you say in your heart, Why are these things come on me? For the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts lifted up, and your private parts suffer violence.


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Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.


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This is your lot, the portion measured to you from Me, says Yahweh; because you have forgotten Me, and trusted in falsehood.


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I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?


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Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.


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Their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.


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Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the ploughmen are disappointed, they cover their heads.


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The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no greenery to eat.


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Though our iniquities testify against us, work for Your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You.


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You hope of Israel, its Saviour in the time of trouble, why should You be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?


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Why should You be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can’t save? Yet You, Yahweh, are in the midst of us, and we are called by Your name; don’t leave us.


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Thus says Yahweh to this people, Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore Yahweh does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.<br/> <e><i>Lying Prophets</i></e>


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When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by the famine and by the plague.


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Then I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.


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Then Yahweh said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I didn’t send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision and divination, a thing of nothing and the deceit of their own heart.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name and I didn’t send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.


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The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them--them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them.


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You shall say this word to them, Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.


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If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.


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Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!


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We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You.


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Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of Your glory: remember, don’t break Your covenant with us.


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Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the sky give showers? Aren’t You He, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for You; for You have made all these things.


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<e><i>The People Will be Punished</i></e><br/> Then Yahweh said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind would not be towards this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.


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It shall happen, when they tell you, Where shall we go forth? Then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.


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I will appoint over them four kinds, says Yahweh: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky and the animals of the land, to devour and to destroy.


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I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the land because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.


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For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare?


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You have rejected Me, says Yahweh, you have gone backward: therefore have I stretched out My hand against you and destroyed you; I am weary with relenting.


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I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed My people; they didn’t return from their ways.


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Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas; I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.


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She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been disappointed and confounded: and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Yahweh.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Complains to God</i></e><br/> Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them curses me.


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Yahweh said, Most certainly I will strengthen you for good; most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.


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Your substance and your treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.


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I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don’t know; for a fire is kindled in My anger, which shall burn on you.


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Yahweh, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; don’t take me away in Your long suffering: know that for Your sake I have suffered reproach.


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Your words were found, and I ate them; and Your words were to me the joy and the delight of my heart: for I am called by Your name, Yahweh, God of Armies.


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I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Your hand; for You have filled me with indignation.


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Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?<br/> <e><i>God Replies</i></e>


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Therefore thus says Yahweh, If you return, then I will restore you, and you shall stand before Me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is base, you shall be as My mouth: they shall return to you, but you shall not return to them.


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I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says Yahweh.


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I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.


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For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land:


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They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.


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For thus says Yahweh, Don’t enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people, says Yahweh, even loving kindness and tender mercies.


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Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;


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neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.


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For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.


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It shall happen, when you shall show this people all these words and they shall tell you, Why has Yahweh pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God?


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<e><i>Exile and Return</i></e><br/> Then you shall tell them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says Yahweh, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law;


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and you have done evil more than your fathers; for behold, you walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to Me:


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therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, where I will not show you favour; and there you shall serve other gods day and night.


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Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be said, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;


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but, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where He had driven them. I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.


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Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Yahweh, and they shall fish them up; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks.


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For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, neither is their iniquity concealed from My eyes.


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First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted My land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled My inheritance with their abominations.


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Yahweh, my strength, my stronghold and my refuge in the day of affliction, to You shall the nations come from the ends of the land and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.


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Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.


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<e><i>Punishment for Judah</i></e><br/> The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars;


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My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a spoil, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders.


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You, even of yourself, shall discontinue from your inheritance that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know: for you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.


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Thus says Yahweh: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.


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For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.


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For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.


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I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his works, according to the fruit of his doings.


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As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Prays to God</i></e>


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Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be disappointed. Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.


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As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you; neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was before Your face.


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Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but let not me be disappointed; let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed; bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.<br/> <e><i>Observance of the Sabbath</i></e>


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Thus said Yahweh to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people through which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;


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and tell them, Hear the word of Yahweh, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:


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Thus says Yahweh, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;


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neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do any work: but make the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.


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But they didn’t listen neither turn their ear, but made their neck stiff that they might not hear and might not receive instruction.


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It shall happen, if you diligently listen to Me, says Yahweh, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;


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then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.


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They shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, meal offerings and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of Yahweh.


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But if you will not listen to Me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Goes to the Potter's House</i></e><br/> The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying,


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When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made of it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.


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House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter? Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.


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At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation or kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;


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if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.


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if they do that which is evil in My sight, that they not obey My voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.


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Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return you now each one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.


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But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh: Ask now among the nations, who has heard such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.


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Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?


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For My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up;


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to make their land an astonishment and a perpetual hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and shake his head.


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I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity.


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Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Prays about His Enemies</i></e>


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Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them.


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Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men struck of the sword in battle.


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Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.


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Yet, Yahweh, You know all their counsel against me to kill me; don’t forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from Your sight; but let them be overthrown before You; may You deal with them in the time of Your anger.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Breaks a Bottle</i></e><br/> Thus said Yahweh, Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests;


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and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you;


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and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle.


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Because they have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,


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and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal; which I didn’t command, nor spoke it, neither came it into My mind:


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therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter.


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I will nullify the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.


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I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.


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I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat each one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, shall distress them.


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and shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that can’t be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.


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Thus will I do to this place, says Yahweh, and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth:


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and the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Warns the People</i></e>


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Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Yahweh’s house and said to all the people:


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear My words.


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<e><i>Pashhur Puts Jeremiah in Stocks</i></e><br/> Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.


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Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Yahweh.


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It happened on the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.


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For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword.


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Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.


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You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Complains to God</i></e><br/> Yahweh, you have seduced me, and I was seduced; You are stronger than me, and I am overcome: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me.


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For whenever I speak, I cry out Your word; I cry, Violence and destruction! But the word of Yahweh is made a reproach to me and a derision all the day.


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If I say, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name; then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can’t.


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For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall; Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.


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But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonour which shall never be forgotten.


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But, Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance on them; for to You have I revealed my cause.


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Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh; for He has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.


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Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn’t relent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime;


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because God didn’t kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.


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Why came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?


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<e><i>Jeremiah's Message for Zedekiah</i></e><br/> The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest saying,


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Please inquire of Yahweh for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us: perhaps Yahweh will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that He may go up from us.


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Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who besiege you without the walls; and I will gather them into the midst of this city.


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I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, wrath and great indignation.


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Afterward, says Yahweh, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even such as are left in this city from the plague, from the sword and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.


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To this people you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.


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He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey.


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For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, says Yahweh: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.<br/> <e><i>A Warning for the Royal Family of Judah</i></e>


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House of David, thus says Yahweh, Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.


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Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley and of the rock of the plain, says Yahweh; you that say, who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our habitations?


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I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Yahweh; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her.


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<e><i>How the People of Judah Could Have Pleased God</i></e><br/> Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word saying,


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Hear the word of Yahweh, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.


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Thus says Yahweh: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.


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For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.


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But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says Yahweh, that this house shall become a desolation.


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For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to Me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.


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I will prepare destroyers against you, each one with his weapons; they shall cut down your choice cedars and cast them into the fire.


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Many nations shall pass by this city and shall say every man to his neighbour, Why has Yahweh done thus to this great city?


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Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.<br/> <e><i>Punishment for the Kings of Judah</i></e>


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Don’t weep for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away into exile; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.


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For thus says Yahweh touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return there any more.


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But in the place where they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more.


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Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbour’s service without wages, and doesn’t give him his hire;


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who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious rooms, and cuts him out windows; and makes a ceiling with cedar, painted with vermilion.


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Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.


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But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: they shall not lament for him saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him saying Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!


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Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers are destroyed.


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I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your way from your youth, that you didn’t obey My voice.


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The wind shall feed all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.


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Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!


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As I live, says Yahweh, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on My right hand, yet would I pluck you from there;


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and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you will die.


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Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they don’t know?


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Thus says Yahweh, Write you this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.


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<e><i>Hope for the Future</i></e><br/> Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! says Yahweh.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh the God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings, says Yahweh.


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I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.


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I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, says Yahweh.


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Behold, the days come says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.


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In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name by which he shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness.


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Therefore behold, the days come says Yahweh, that they shall no more say, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;


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but, As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. They shall dwell in their own land.<br/> <e><i>Unfaithful Prophets and their Punishment</i></e>


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Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Yahweh, and because of His holy words.


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For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their way is evil, and their might is not right;


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for both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in My house have I found their wickedness, says Yahweh.


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Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation, says Yahweh.


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I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused My people Israel to err.


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In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them become to Me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.


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<e><i>A Warning from God</i></e><br/> Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh.


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They say continually to those who despise Me, Yahweh has said, You shall have peace; and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come on you.


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For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear His word? Who has noted My word, and heard it?


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Behold, the storm of Yahweh, His wrath, has gone forth. Yes, a whirling storm. It shall burst on the head of the wicked.


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The anger of Yahweh shall not return, until He has executed, and until He has performed the intents of His heart: in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.


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But if they had stood in My council, then had they caused My people to hear My words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.


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Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Yahweh. Don’t I fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh.


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I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in My name saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.


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How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?


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Who think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.


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The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Yahweh.


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Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who steal My words each one from his neighbour.


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Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Yahweh, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I didn’t send them, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, says Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>The Burden of God</i></e>


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When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you saying, What is the burden of Yahweh? Then you shall tell them, What burden! I will cast you off, says Yahweh.


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As for the prophet, the priest and the people who shall say, The burden of Yahweh, I will even punish that man and his house.


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You shall say each one to his neighbour and each one to his brother, What has Yahweh answered? and, What has Yahweh spoken?


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You shall mention the burden of Yahweh no more: for every man’s own word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of Yahweh of Armies our God.


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But if you say, The burden of Yahweh; therefore thus says Yahweh: Because you say this word, The burden of Yahweh, and I have sent to you saying, You shall not say, The burden of Yahweh;


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therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from My presence:


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and I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.


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<e><i>Good and Bad Figs</i></e><br/> Yahweh showed me and behold, two baskets of figs set before Yahweh’s temple, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.


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One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.


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Then Yahweh said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that can’t be eaten, they are so bad.


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Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.


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For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.


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I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am Yahweh: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.


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As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus says Yahweh, So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt,


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I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.


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I will send the sword, the famine, and the plague, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.


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<e><i>Seventy Years of Exile</i></e><br/> The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, King of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon).


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which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying:


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From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.


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Yahweh has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened, nor inclined your ear to hear)


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saying, Return now each one from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even for evermore;


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and don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no harm.


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Yet you have not listened to Me, says Yahweh; so that you provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.


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behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Yahweh, and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.


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Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.


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This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.


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It shall happen that when seventy years are accomplished, then I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says Yahweh, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever.


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I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.


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For many nations and great kings shall make bond servants of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.<br/> <e><i>The Vision of the Cup of Wine</i></e>


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For thus says Yahweh the God of Israel to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.


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They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.


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Then took I the cup at Yahweh’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me:


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Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;


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and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;


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and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;


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and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.


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You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies the God of Israel: Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.


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It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: You shall surely drink.


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For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by My name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Must Warn the People</i></e><br/> Therefore you must prophesy against them all these words and tell them, Yahweh will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will mightily roar against His fold; He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.


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A noise shall come even to the end of the land; for Yahweh has a controversy with the nations; He will enter into judgement with all flesh: as for the wicked, He will give them to the sword, says Yahweh.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.


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The slain of Yahweh shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.


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Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in dust, you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.


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A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! For Yahweh lays waste their pasture.


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He has left His den, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppression, and because of His fierce anger.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Speaks God's Words at the Temple</i></e><br/> In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from Yahweh saying,


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Thus says Yahweh: Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them; don’t diminish a word.


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Perhaps they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way; so that I may repent Me of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings.


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You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you,


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to listen to the words of My servants the prophets whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, to which you have not listened;


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then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah on Trial</i></e>


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The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh.


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It happened that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him saying, You shall surely die.


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Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? All the people were gathered to Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh.


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When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of Yahweh; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house.


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Then spoke the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people saying, This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.


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Then spoke Jeremiah to all the princes and to all the people saying, Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.


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Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God; and Yahweh will repent Him of the evil that He has pronounced against you.


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Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for of a truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.


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<e><i>Jeremiah's Life Is Spared</i></e><br/> Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God.


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Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Zion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.


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Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Yahweh, and entreat the favour of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster which He had pronounced against them? Thus should we commit great evil against our own souls.


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There was also a man who prophesied in the name of Yahweh, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:


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and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt:


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and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt;


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and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.


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But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.


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<e><i>Slaves of Nebuchadnezzar</i></e><br/> In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying,


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and send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah;


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and give them a command to their masters saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies the God of Israel, You shall tell your masters:


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I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by My great power and by My outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to Me.


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Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the animals of the field also have I given him to serve him.


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All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bond servant.


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It shall happen, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says Yahweh, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the plague, until I have consumed them by his hand.


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But as for you, don’t you listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon:


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for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and you should perish.


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But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, says Yahweh; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.<br/> <e><i>Message for Zedekiah</i></e>


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I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.


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Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?


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Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you.


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For I have not sent them, says Yahweh, but they prophesy falsely in My name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.<br/> <e><i>Serve the King of Babylon and Live</i></e>


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Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people saying, Thus says Yahweh: Don’t listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you saying, Behold, the vessels of Yahweh’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you.


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Don’t listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city become a desolation?


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But if they be prophets, and if the word of Yahweh be with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels which are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon.


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For thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city,


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which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;


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yes, thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem:


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They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them, says Yahweh; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.


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<e><i>The False Prophet Hananiah</i></e><br/> It happened the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Yahweh, in the presence of the priests and of all the people saying,


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Thus speaks Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.


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Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of Yahweh’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon:


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and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon, says Yahweh; for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Denounces Hananiah</i></e>


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Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of Yahweh,


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even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: Yahweh do so; Yahweh perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Yahweh’s house, and all them of the captivity, from Babylon to this place.


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The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of plague.


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The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall happen, then shall the prophet be known, that Yahweh has truly sent him.


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Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people saying, Thus says Yahweh: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. The prophet Jeremiah went his way.


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Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah saying,


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Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh: You have broken the bars of wood; but you have made in their place bars of iron.


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For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the animals of the field also.


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Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah: Yahweh has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the land: this year you shall die, because you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh.


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<e><i>Jeremiah's Letter to the People in Babylon</i></e><br/> Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,


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(after that Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem),


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by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:


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Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and don’t be diminished.


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Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.


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For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Don’t let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.


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For they prophesy falsely to you in My name: I have not sent them, says Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>The People's Return Promised</i></e>


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For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform My word of grace towards you, in causing you to return to this place.


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For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.


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I will be found by you, says Yahweh, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh; and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.


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thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven’t gone forth with you into captivity;


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thus says Yahweh of Armies; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can’t be eaten, they are so bad.


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I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;


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because they have not listened to My words, says Yahweh, with which I sent to them My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says Yahweh.


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Hear therefore the word of Yahweh, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.<br/> <e><i>Punishment for False Prophets</i></e>


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes;


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and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon saying, Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;


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because they have worked folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I didn’t command them; and I am He who knows, and am witness, says Yahweh.


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Thus speaks Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests saying,


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Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Yahweh, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.


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because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long: build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit?


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Send to all them of the captivity saying, Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;


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therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he see the good that I will do to My people, says Yahweh, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.


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<e><i>God Will Rescue Israel and Judah</i></e><br/> The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,


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Thus speaks Yahweh, the God of Israel saying, Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.


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For, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will turn again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says Yahweh; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.


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Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?


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Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.


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It shall come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds; and strangers shall no more make him their bond servant;


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Therefore don’t you be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh; neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.


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For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.


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<e><i>God Will Heal His People</i></e><br/> For thus says Yahweh, Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous.


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All your lovers have forgotten you; they don’t seek you: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.


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Why do you cry for your hurt? Your pain is incurable: for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.


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Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, each one of them, shall go into captivity; and those who despoil you shall be a spoil, and all who prey on you will I give for a prey.


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For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says Yahweh; because they have called you an outcast, saying, It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.<br/> <e><i>Restored to Be God's People</i></e>


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Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built again on its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited in its own former way.


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Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.


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Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before Me; and I will punish all who oppress them.


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Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from their midst; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to Me: for who is he who has had boldness to approach to Me? says Yahweh.


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Behold, the storm of Yahweh, His wrath, has gone forth, a sweeping storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked.


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The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return, until He has executed, and until He has performed the intentions of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it.


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<e><i>God Will Rebuild Israel</i></e><br/> At that time, says Yahweh, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.


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Thus says Yahweh, The people who were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.


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Yahweh appeared of old to me saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.


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Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: again you shall be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry.


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Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy its fruit.


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For there shall be a day when the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.


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For thus says Yahweh, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, Yahweh, save Your people, the remnant of Israel.


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Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together: a great company shall they return here.


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They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first born.


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Hear the word of Yahweh, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.


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They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.


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Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.


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I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>God Offers Hope</i></e>


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Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.


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Thus says Yahweh: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Yahweh; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.


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There is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and your children shall come again to their own border.


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I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for You are Yahweh my God.


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Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.


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Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Yahweh.


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Set up road signs, make guideposts; set your heart towards the highway, even the way by which you went: turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities.


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How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall follow after a man.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring again their captivity: Yahweh bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.


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Judah and all its cities shall dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.


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Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal.


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It shall happen that like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh.


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In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.


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But each one shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.<br/> <e><i>God Makes a New Covenant with the People</i></e>


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Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:


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not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh.


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But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people:


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and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know Me, from their least to their greatest, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.


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Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is His name:


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If these ordinances depart from before Me, says Yahweh, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever.


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Thus says Yahweh: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Yahweh.


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Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that the city shall be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.


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The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah.


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The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate towards the east, shall be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Buys a Field</i></e><br/> The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.


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Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house.


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For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up saying, Why do you prophesy and say, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;


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and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes;


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and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he shall be there until I visit him, says Yahweh: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper?


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Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.


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So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Yahweh, and said to me, Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.


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I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.


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I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.


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So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open;


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and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel; that they may continue many days.


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For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land.


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Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying,<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Prays and Questions God</i></e>


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Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for You,


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Who show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the mighty God, Yahweh of Armies is His name;


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great in counsel, and mighty in working; whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give each one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:


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who performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men; and made Yourself a name, as it is at this day;


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and brought forth Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, wonders, a strong hand, an outstretched arm and with great terror;


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and gave them this land, which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;


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and they came in, and possessed it, but they didn’t obey Your voice, neither walked in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do: therefore You have caused all this evil to come on them.


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Behold, the siege mounds, they have come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what You have spoken has happened; and behold, You see it.


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You have said to me, Lord Yahweh, Buy the field for money, and call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.<br/> <e><i>God Answers Jeremiah</i></e>


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Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:


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and the Chaldeans who now fight against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger.


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For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in My sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands, says Yahweh.


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For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and of My wrath from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before My face,


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because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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They have turned to Me the back and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.


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They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech; which I didn’t command them, neither did it come into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.


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Now therefore thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, concerning this city, about which you say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:<br/> <e><i>God Explains about the Field</i></e>


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Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in My anger, and in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:


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and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for their good, and of their children after them:


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and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put My fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from Me.


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Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul.


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For thus says Yahweh: Like as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so will I bring on them all the good that I have promised them.


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Fields shall be bought in this land, about which you say, It is desolate, without man or animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to return, says Yahweh.


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<e><i>God Promises Restoration to Israel and Judah</i></e><br/> Moreover the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard, saying,


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Call to Me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and difficult, which you don’t know.


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For thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defence against the mounds and against the sword;


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while men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in My anger and in My wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city:


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Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.


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I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.


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I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned against Me, and by which they have transgressed against Me.


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This city shall be to Me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure to it.


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Thus says Yahweh: Yet again there shall be heard in this place, about which you say, It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,


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the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for His loving kindness endures forever; who bring thanksgiving into the house of Yahweh. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, says Yahweh.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Yet again shall there be in this place which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.


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In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks again pass under the hands of him who numbers them, says Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>God Promises a King</i></e>


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Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will perform that word of grace which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.


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In those days, and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.


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In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name by which it shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness.


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neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.


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Thus says Yahweh: If you can break My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in their season;


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then may also My covenant be broken with David My servant, that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My ministers.


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As the army of the sky can’t be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites who minister to Me.


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Don’t consider what this people has spoken saying, The two families which Yahweh chose, has He not cast them off? Thus do they despise My people, that they should be no more a nation before them.


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Thus says Yahweh: If My covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;


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then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David My servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.


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<e><i>A Warning for Zedekiah</i></e><br/> The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army and all the kingdoms of the land that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of it, saying:


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Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, Go speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:


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and you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon.


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Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus says Yahweh concerning you, You shall not die by the sword;


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you shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a burning for you; and they shall lament you saying, Ah Lord! Because I have spoken the word, says Yahweh.


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when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities.


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<e><i>Shameful Treatment of Slaves</i></e><br/> The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;


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that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bond servants of them, of a Jew his brother.


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All the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant and everyone his female servant, go free, that none should make bond servants of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go:


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but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.


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Thus says Yahweh, God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,


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At the end of seven years you shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers didn’t listen to Me, neither inclined their ear.


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You had now turned, and had done that which is right in My eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name:


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but you turned and profaned My name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh: you have not listened to Me, to proclaim liberty each man to his brother and each man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the plague and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.


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I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts;


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the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf;


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I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth.


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Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army who have for now gone away from you.


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Behold, I will command, says Yahweh, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Meets with the Rechabites</i></e><br/> The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,


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Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink.


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Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, all his sons and the whole family of the Rechabites;


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and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the room of the princes, which was above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.


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I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups; and I said to them, Drink wine!


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But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying, You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your sons, forever:


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neither shall you build house, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard nor own one; but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land in which you live.


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We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters;


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but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.


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But it happened, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians; so we dwell at Jerusalem.


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<e><i>A Lesson Learned from the Rechabites</i></e><br/> Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah saying,


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Go, and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction to listen to My words? says Yahweh.


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The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father’s commandment: but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; and you have not listened to Me.


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I have sent also to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to Me.


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Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me;


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therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered.


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Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you;


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therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Dictates a Scroll</i></e><br/> It happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying,


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Take a scroll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.


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It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.


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Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh, which He had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book.


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therefore you go, and read in the scroll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of Yahweh in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s house on the fast day; and also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.


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It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will return each one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that Yahweh has pronounced against this people.<br/> <e><i>Baruch Reads the Scroll</i></e>


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Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Yahweh in Yahweh’s house.


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Now it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Yahweh.


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Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house, in the ears of all the people.


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When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Yahweh,


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he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s room: and behold, all the princes were sitting there, Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.


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Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.


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Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the scroll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand, and came to them.


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Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one towards another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.


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Then Baruch answered them, he pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.


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They went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of the king.


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So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll; and he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who stood beside the king.<br/> <e><i>The King Burns the Scroll</i></e>


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Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him.


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It happened, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.


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They were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words.


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Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll; but he would not hear them.


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The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them.


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Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,


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Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.


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Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: You have burned this scroll saying, Why have you written therein saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and beast?


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Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.


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I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because they didn’t listen.


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Then took Jeremiah another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added besides to them many like words.


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<e><i>A Message for Zedekiah</i></e><br/> Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.


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But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of Yahweh, which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.


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Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah saying, Pray now to Yahweh our God for us.


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Pharaoh’s army had come forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke up from Jerusalem.


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Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, You shall tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come forth to help you shall return to Egypt into their own land.


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The Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city; and they shall take it, and burn it with fire.


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Thus says Yahweh, Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us; for they shall not depart.


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For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet would they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.


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It happened that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,


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then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the midst of the people.


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When he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans.


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Then Jeremiah said, It is false; I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he didn’t listen to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Imprisoned</i></e>


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The princes were angry with Jeremiah and struck him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.


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When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;


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then Zedekiah the king sent and fetched him: and the king asked him secretly in his house saying, Is there any word from Yahweh? Jeremiah said, There is. He said also, You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.


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Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, Wherein have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?


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Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?


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Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, unless I die there.


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Then Zedekiah the king commanded and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.


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<e><i>Jeremiah Put into the Dungeon</i></e><br/> Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people saying,


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Thus says Yahweh, He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the plague; but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live.


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Thus says Yahweh, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.


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Then the princes said to the king, Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but their hurt.


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Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you.


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Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mud; and Jeremiah sank in the mud.


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Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin),


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My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.


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Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Rescued</i></e>


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So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out clothes and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.


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Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits under the cords. Jeremiah did so.


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So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah's Last Conversation with Zedekiah</i></e>


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Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of Yahweh: and the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.


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Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.


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So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah saying, As Yahweh lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.


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Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel: If you will go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and you shall live, and your family.


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But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire and you shall not escape out of their hand.


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Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me.


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But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver you. Obey, I beg you, the voice of Yahweh, in that which I speak to you: so it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.


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behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say, Your familiar friends have deceived you and have prevailed over you. Your feet are now sunk in the mud, and they now turn away from you.


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They shall bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans; and you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.


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But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and tell you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don’t hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you:


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then you shall tell them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house to die there.


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Then came all the princes to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.


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<e><i>Jerusalem Is Taken</i></e><br/> It happened when Jerusalem was taken, (in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and besieged it;


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in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city),


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that all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, Nergal Sharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.


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It happened that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out towards the Arabah.


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But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgement on him.


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Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah.


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The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.


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Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the residue of the people who remained.


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But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Not to Be Harmed</i></e>


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Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon commanded Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard concerning Jeremiah saying,


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So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon;


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they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he lived among the people.


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Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring My words on this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished before you in that day.


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But I will deliver you in that day, says Yahweh; and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.


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For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be for a prey to you; because you have put your trust in me, says Yahweh.


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<e><i>Jeremiah is Set Free</i></e><br/> The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon.


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The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, Yahweh your God pronounced this evil on this place;


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and Yahweh has brought it, and done according as He spoke: because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come on you.


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Now, behold, I release you this day from the chains which are on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will take care of you; but if it seems bad to you to come with me into Babylon, don’t: behold, all the land is before you; where it seems good and right to you to go, there go.


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If you remain, then return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever you think it right to go. So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go.


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Then went Jeremiah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.


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Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, and women, and children, and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon;


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then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.


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Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men saying, Don’t be afraid to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.<br/> <e><i>The Harvest</i></e>


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As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who shall come to us: but you, gather grapes and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.


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Likewise when all the Jews who were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan;


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then all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered grapes and summer fruits very much.


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Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,


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and said to him, Do you know that Baalis the king of the children of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam didn’t believe them.


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Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly saying, Please let me go, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: why should he take your life, that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish?


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But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing; for you speak falsely of Ishmael.


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<e><i>Gedaliah is Killed</i></e><br/> Now it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.


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Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.


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Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.


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that there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Yahweh.


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Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it happened, as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.<br/> <e><i>The Evil Done by Ishmael</i></e>


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It was so that when they came into the midst of the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men who were with him.


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But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, Don’t kill us; for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, barley, oil and honey. So he stopped, and didn’t kill them among their brothers.


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Now the cistern in which Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had killed along with Gedaliah was the same which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were killed.


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Then Ishmael carried away captive all the remainder of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the children of Ammon.


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But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,


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then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.


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Now it happened that when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad.


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So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.


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But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the children of Ammon.


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Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon:


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because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.


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and said to Jeremiah the prophet, Please let our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to Yahweh your God, even for all this remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes do see us:


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Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray to Yahweh your God according to your words; and it shall happen that whatever thing Yahweh shall answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you.


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Then they said to Jeremiah, Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don’t do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God shall send you to us.


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Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God.<br/> <e><i>God Answers</i></e>


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Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,


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and said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him:


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If you will still live in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you.


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Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; don’t be afraid of him, says Yahweh: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.


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But if you say, We will not dwell in this land; so that you don’t obey the voice of Yahweh your God,


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saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:


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now therefore hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah: Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to live there;


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then it shall happen, that the sword which you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are afraid, shall follow close behind you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.


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So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there: they shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the plague; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them.


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For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: As My anger and My wrath has been poured forth on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall My wrath be poured forth on you, when you shall enter into Egypt; and you shall be an object of horror and an astonishment, a curse and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Warns the People</i></e>


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Yahweh has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah, Don’t you go into Egypt: know certainly that I have testified to you this day.


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For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for you sent me to Yahweh your God saying, Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it:


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and I have this day declared it to you; but you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh your God in anything for which He has sent me to you.


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Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you desire to go to live there.


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<e><i>The People Flee to Egypt</i></e><br/> It happened that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, with which Yahweh their God had sent him to them, even all these words,


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then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying to Jeremiah, You speak falsely: Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, You shall not go into Egypt to live there;


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but Baruch the son of Neriah sets you on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon.


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So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, didn’t obey the voice of Yahweh, to dwell in the land of Judah.


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But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah, who were returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to live in the land of Judah;


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the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah;


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and they came into the land of Egypt; for they didn’t obey the voice of Yahweh: and they came to Tahpanhes.<br/> <e><i>The Invasion of Egypt Foretold</i></e>


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Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in mortar in the brick work, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;


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and tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.


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He shall come, and shall strike the land of Egypt; such as are for death shall be put to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword.


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I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captive: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he shall go forth from there in peace.


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He shall also break the pillars of Beth Shemesh that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire.


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<e><i>God's Message for the Jews in Egypt</i></e><br/> The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis and in the country of Pathros, saying,


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells therein,


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because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods that they didn’t know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.


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However I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them saying, Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate!


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But they didn’t listen nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods.


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Therefore My wrath and My anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.


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Therefore now thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel: Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the midst of Judah, to leave yourselves none remaining;


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in that you provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live; that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?


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Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?


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They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in My law, nor in My statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.


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I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach.


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For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague;


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so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they will have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shall escape.<br/> <e><i>The People Refuse to Heed God's Message</i></e>


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Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah saying,


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But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.


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But since we left off burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.


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When we burned incense to the queen of the sky, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?


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Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying,


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The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn’t Yahweh remember it, and didn’t it come into His mind?


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So that Yahweh could no longer endure you, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore your land has become a desolation, an astonishment and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.


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Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is this day.


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Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt:


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her: establish then your vows, and perform your vows.<br/> <e><i>God Will Punish Them</i></e>


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Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says Yahweh, that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt saying, As the Lord Yahweh lives.


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Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone.


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Those who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall know whose word shall stand, Mine, or theirs.


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This shall be the sign to you, says Yahweh, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil:


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Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.


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<e><i>God Will Spare Baruch's Life</i></e><br/> The message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,


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You said, Woe is me now! For Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and I find no rest.


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You shall tell him, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this will be so in the whole land.


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Do you seek great things for yourself? Don’t seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh, says Yahweh; but your life will I give to you for a prey in all places where you go.


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<e><i>God's Message for Egypt</i></e><br/> The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.


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Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.


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Harness the horses, rise up, you horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.


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Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled apace, and don’t look back: terror is on every side, says Yahweh.


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Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.


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Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he says, I will rise up, I will cover the land; I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.


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Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty ones go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.


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For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself of His adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.


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Go up into Gilead and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.


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The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together.<br/> <e><i>Egypt Is Warned</i></e>


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The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.


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Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say, Stand forth, and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you.


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He made many to stumble, yes, they fell one on another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.


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As I live, says the King whose name is Yahweh of Armies, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.


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You daughter who dwells in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall become a desolation and shall be burnt up without inhabitant.


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Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they didn’t stand: for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.


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The sound of it shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.


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They shall cut down her forest, says Yahweh, though it can’t be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.


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The daughter of Egypt shall be disappointed; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.


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Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him:


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and I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited like in the days of old, says Yahweh.


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<e><i>God Will Save His People</i></e><br/> But don’t you be afraid, Jacob My servant, neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.


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Don’t you be afraid, O Jacob My servant, says Yahweh; for I am with you: for although I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.


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<e><i>God's Message about the Philistines</i></e><br/> The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before that Pharaoh struck Gaza.


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Thus says Yahweh: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.


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At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back to their children for feebleness of hands;


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because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains: for Yahweh will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.


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Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?


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You sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you be quiet? Put up yourself into your scabbard; rest, and be still.


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How can you be quiet, since Yahweh has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there has He appointed it.


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<e><i>God's Message for Moab</i></e><br/> Of Moab. Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is disappointed, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and broken down.


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The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, Madmen, shall be brought to silence: the sword shall pursue you.


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For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.


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For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also shall be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together.


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The destroyer shall come on every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as Yahweh has spoken.


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May wings be given to Moab, that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.


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Cursed is he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.


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Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.


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Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will send to him those who pour off, and they shall pour him off; and they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces.


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Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.


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All you who are around him, bemoan him; all you who know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod!


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You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your strongholds.


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Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch: ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, What has been done?


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Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.


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Kerioth, Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.<br/> <e><i>The Humbling of Moab</i></e>


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Make him drunken; for he magnified himself against Yahweh: and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.


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For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head.


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You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.


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We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the highness of his heart.


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Therefore will I wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir Heres shall they mourn.


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With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you, vine of Sibmah: your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: on your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer is fallen.


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Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses: none shall tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting.


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From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate.


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Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Yahweh, him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods.


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Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres: therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished.


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For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the waist sackcloth.


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On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which none delights, says Yahweh.


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How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.


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For thus says Yahweh: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab.


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Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.


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He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation, says Yahweh.


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Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.


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Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity.


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Yet will I revive the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgement of Moab.


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<e><i>God's Message for Ammon</i></e><br/> Of the children of Ammon. Thus says Yahweh: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in its cities?


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Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel possess those who possessed him, says Yahweh.


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Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry, you daughters of Rabbah, clothe yourself in sackcloth: lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.


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Why do you glory in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? Who trusted in her treasures, saying, who shall come to me?


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Behold, I will bring a fear on you, says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, from all who are around you; and you shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives.


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But afterwards I will revive the fortunes of the children of Ammon, says Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>God's Message for Edom</i></e>


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Of Edom. Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?


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Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I shall visit him.


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If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, wouldn’t they steal until they had enough?


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But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbours; and he is no more.


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For thus says Yahweh: Behold, they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup shall certainly drink; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink.


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For I have sworn by Myself, says Yahweh, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.


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I have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations saying, Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.


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As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh.


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Edom shall become an astonishment: each one who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues.


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As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbouring cities, says Yahweh, no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man live therein.


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Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like Me? And who will appoint Me a time? And who is the shepherd who will stand before Me?


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Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh that He has taken against Edom; and His purposes, that He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall drag them away, the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.


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The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the Red Sea.


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Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.<br/> <e><i>God's Message for Damascus</i></e>


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Of Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil news, they are melted away: there is sorrow on the sea; it can’t be quiet.


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Damascus has grown feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.


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Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, says Yahweh of Armies.


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I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.<br/> <e><i>God's Message for Kedar, Hazor and Elam</i></e>


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Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. Thus says Yahweh: Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east.


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Their tents and their flocks shall they take; they shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry to them, Terror on every side!


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Flee, wander far off, dwell in the depths, you inhabitants of Hazor, says Yahweh; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.


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Arise, go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care, says Yahweh; that have neither gates nor bars, that dwell alone.


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Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their livestock a spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their beards cut off; and I will bring their calamity on them from every side, says Yahweh.


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Hazor shall be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man live therein.


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The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,


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On Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them towards all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.


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I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; and I will bring evil on them, even My fierce anger, says Yahweh; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them;


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<e><i>The Fall of Babylon and Israel's Return</i></e><br/> The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.


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Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed; her images are disappointed, her idols are dismayed.


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For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and animal.


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In those days, and in that time, says Yahweh, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Yahweh their God.


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They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned towards it saying, Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.


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My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.


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All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, even Yahweh, the hope of their fathers.


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Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats before the flocks.


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For behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain.


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Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder My inheritance, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses;


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your mother shall be utterly disappointed; she who bore you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.


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Because of the wrath of Yahweh she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: everyone who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.


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Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she has sinned against Yahweh.


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Shout against her all around: she has submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Yahweh: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.


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Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn each one to his people, and they shall flee each one to his own land.


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Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at the last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.


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I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.


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In those days and in that time, says Yahweh, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.


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<e><i>The Destruction of Babylon</i></e><br/> Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: kill and utterly destroy after them, says Yahweh, and do according to all that I have commanded you.


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How is the hammer of the whole earth cut apart and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!


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I have laid a snare for you, and you are also caught, Babylon, and you weren’t aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have struggled against Yahweh.


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Yahweh has opened His armoury and has brought forth the weapons of His indignation; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.


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Come against her from the utmost border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left.


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Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.


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The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance of His temple.


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Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow; encamp against her all around; let none of it escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.


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Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her men of war will be brought to silence in that day, says Yahweh.


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Behold, I am against you, you proud one, says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies; for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.


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The proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are around him.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all who took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.


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Their Redeemer is strong; Yahweh of Armies is His name: He will thoroughly plead their cause, that He may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.


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A sword is on the Chaldeans, says Yahweh, and on the inhabitants of Babylon, on her princes and on her wise men.


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A sword is on the boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is on her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.


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A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is on her treasures, and they shall be robbed.


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A drought is on her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols.


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Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be lived in from generation to generation.


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As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbouring cities, says Yahweh, so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man live therein.


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Behold, a people comes from the north; and a great nation and many kings shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.


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They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, each one set in array as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Babylon.


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The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of a woman in labour.


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Behold, the enemy shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like Me? And who will appoint Me a time? And who is the shepherd who can stand before Me?


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Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh that He has taken against Babylon; and His purposes, that He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.


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<e><i>More Judgement against Babylon</i></e><br/> Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up a destroying wind against Babylon and against those who dwell in Lebkamai.


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I will send to Babylon strangers who shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her around.


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Against him who bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail: don’t spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.


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For neither Israel nor Judah is forsaken, of his God, of Yahweh of Armies; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.


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Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; don’t be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Yahweh’s vengeance; He will render to her a recompense.


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Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh’s hand, who made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.


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Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take her balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.


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We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go each one into his own country; for her judgement reaches to the sky, and is lifted up even to heaven.


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Yahweh has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.


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Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it: for it is the revenge of Yahweh, the revenge for His temple.


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Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.


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You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.


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Yahweh of Armies has sworn by Himself saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as a swarm of locusts; and they shall lift up a shout against you.<br/> <e><i>A Hymn of Praise to God</i></e>


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when He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasuries.


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Every man has become a brute, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.


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The portion of Jacob is not like these; for He is the former of all things; and Jacob is the tribe of His inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is His name.


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You are my battle axe and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;


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and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein; and with you will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;


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and with you will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke; and with you will I break in pieces governors and deputies.<br/> <e><i>Babylon to Be Desolate Forever</i></e>


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I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Yahweh.


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Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain, says Yahweh, which destroys all the land; and I will stretch out My hand on you and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.


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They shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says Yahweh.


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Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm.


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Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion.


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The land trembles and is in pain; for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.


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The mighty men of Babylon have declined to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might has failed; they are become as women: her dwelling places are set on fire; her bars are broken.


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One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:


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and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.


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For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.


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Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has, like a monster, swallowed me up, he has filled his maw with my delicacies; he has cast me out.


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The violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.


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Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.


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Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment and a hissing, without inhabitant.


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When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says Yahweh.


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How is Sheshach taken and the praise of the whole earth seized! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!


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Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.


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I will execute judgement on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.<br/> <e><i>Hope for God's People</i></e>


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My people, go away from the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of Yahweh.


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Don’t let your heart faint, neither fear for the news that shall be heard in the land; for news shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.


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Therefore behold the days come, that I will execute judgement on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.


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Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come to her from the north, says Yahweh.


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As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.


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You who have escaped the sword, go, don’t stand still; remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.


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We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion has covered our faces: for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of Yahweh’s house.


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Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will execute judgement on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.


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Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me shall destroyers come to her, says Yahweh.


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For Yahweh lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:


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for the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Yahweh is a God of recompenses, He will surely requite.


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I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up, says the King whose name is Yahweh of Armies.


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Thus says Yahweh of Armies: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labour for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah Gives a Scroll to Seraiah</i></e>


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The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.


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Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.


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and say, Yahweh, You have spoken concerning this place to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor animal, but that it shall be desolate forever.


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It shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates:


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and you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.


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<e><i>Nebuchadnezzar Takes Jerusalem</i></e><br/> Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


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For through the anger of Yahweh it happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He had cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.


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In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.


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Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were against the city all around;) and they went towards the Arabah.


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But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.


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Then they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgement on him.


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The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he killed also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.


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He put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and imprisoned him until the day of his death.


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Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem:


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and he burned the house of Yahweh, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he with fire.


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All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.


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Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.


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But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers.<br/> <e><i>Desecration of God's Temple</i></e>


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The Chaldeans broke the pillars of brass that were in the house of Yahweh, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh they broke in pieces and carried all of their brass to Babylon.


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They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered.


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The captain of the guard took away the cups, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons and the bowls; that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver.


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They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh. The brass of all these vessels was without weight.


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As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow.


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A capital of brass was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of brass: and the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates.


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There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around.<br/> <e><i>The People of Judah Taken to Babylon</i></e>


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The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold:


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and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.


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This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand and twenty-three Jews;


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in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons;


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in the twenty third year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand six hundred.


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It happened in the thirty seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty fifth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;


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and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,


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and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life:


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and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.


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<e><i>The Suffering of Jerusalem</i></e><br/> How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become a widow, she who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a tributary!


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She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.


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Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude she dwells among the nations, she finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her within the narrows.


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The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh: her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.


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Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper; for Yahweh has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.


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From the daughter of Zion all her majesty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, they are gone without strength before the pursuer.


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Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, no one helped her; the adversaries saw her, they mocked at her desolations.


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Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become as an unclean thing; all who honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yes, she sighs, and turns backward.


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Her filthiness was in her skirts; she didn’t remember her latter end; therefore is she come down wonderfully; she has no comforter: see, Yahweh, my affliction; for the enemy has magnified himself.


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The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things: for she has seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your assembly.


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All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: look, Yahweh, and see; for I am become abject.<br/> <e><i>Jerusalem Confesses Her Transgressions</i></e>


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Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which Yahweh has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.


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From on high has He sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them; He has spread a net for my feet, He has turned me back: He has made me desolate and faint all the day.


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The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand; they are knit together, they have come up on my neck; He has made my strength to fail: the Lord has delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.


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The Lord has set at nothing all my mighty men in the midst of me; He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord has trodden as in a wine press the virgin daughter of Judah.


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For these things I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water; because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.<br/> <e><i> </i></e>


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Zion spreads forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; Yahweh has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are around him should be his adversaries: Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.


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Yahweh is righteous; for I have rebelled against His commandment: please hear, all you peoples, and see my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.


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I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought themselves food to refresh their souls.


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See, Yahweh; for I am in distress; my heart is troubled; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaves, at home there is as death.


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They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me; all my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that You have done it: You will bring the day that You have proclaimed, and they shall be like me.


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Let all their wickedness come before You; do to them, as You have done to me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.


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<e><i>God's Punishment of Jerusalem</i></e><br/> How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger! He has cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, and hasn’t remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.


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The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: He has thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.


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He has cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy: He has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around.


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He has bent His bow like an enemy, He has stood with His right hand as an adversary, has killed all that were pleasant to the eye: in the tent of the daughter of Zion He has poured out His wrath like fire.


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The Lord has become as an enemy, He has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her palaces, He has destroyed his strongholds; He has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.


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He has violently taken away His tent, as if it were just in a garden; He has destroyed His place of assembly: Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, and has despised in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest.


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The Lord has cast off His altar, He has abhorred His sanctuary; He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: they have made a noise in the house of Yahweh, as in the day of a solemn assembly.


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Yahweh has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out the line, He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying; He has made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.


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Her gates are sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>The Suffering of the People</i></e>


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The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they keep silence; they have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.


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My eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled; my liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.


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They ask their mothers for grain and wine, whilst they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, with their soul poured out into their mothers’ bosom.


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What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great like the sea: who can heal you?


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Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity, but have seen for you false oracles and causes of banishment.


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All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem saying, Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole land?


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All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you; they hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up; certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it!


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Yahweh has done that which He purposed; He has fulfilled His word that He commanded in the days of old; He has thrown down, and has not pitied: He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.


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Their heart cried to the Lord: wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give yourself no respite; don’t let the apple of your eye cease.


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Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.


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<e><i>Jerusalem Speaks</i></e><br/> Look, Yahweh, and see to whom You have done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?


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The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: You have killed them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered, and not pitied.


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You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side; there was none that escaped or remained in the day of Yahweh’s anger: those that I have dandled and brought up has my enemy consumed.


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Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?<e><i>A Call to Repentance</i></e>


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Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.<br/> <e><i>Jeremiah’s Reflects on His Redemption from the Dungeon</i></e>


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<e><i>Terrible Suffering in Jerusalem</i></e><br/> How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.


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The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they now esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!


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Even the jackals draw out the breast, they nurse their young ones: the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.


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The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaks it to them.


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Those who fed delicately are desolate in the streets: those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.


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For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid on her.


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Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire.


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Their appearance is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin clings to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a stick.


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Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.


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The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.<e><i>God's Anger Poured Out </i></e>


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Yahweh has accomplished His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.


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The kings of the land didn’t believe, neither all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.


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It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.


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They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, so that men can’t touch their garments.


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Depart! they cried to them, Unclean! Depart, depart, don’t touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall not live here any more.


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The anger of Yahweh has scattered them; He will no more regard them: they didn’t respect the persons of the priests, they didn’t favour the elders.


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Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.


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They hunt our steps, so that we can’t go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come.


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Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky: they chased us on the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.


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The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, Under His shadow we shall live among the nations.


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Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom that dwells in the land of Uz: the cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.


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The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion; He will no more carry you away into captivity: He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom; He will uncover your sins.


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<e><i>A Prayer for Mercy</i></e><br/> Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us: look, and see our reproach.


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<e><i>The Glory of God in the Living Creatures</i></e><br/> Now it happened in the thirtieth year in the fourth month in the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.


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the word of Yahweh came specifically to Ezekiel the priest the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Yahweh was there on him.


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I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with flashing lightning and a brightness around it; and out of its midst as it were glowing metal out of the midst of the fire.


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Out of its midst came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.


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Their feet were straight feet; and the soles of their feet were like the soles of a calf’s feet; and they gleamed like burnished brass.


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They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings like this:


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their wings were joined one to another; they didn’t turn when they went; each one went straight forward.


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As for the likeness of their faces, they each had the face of a man; and the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; the four of them also had the face of an eagle.


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Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; two wings of each one touched another, and two covered their bodies.


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Each one went straight forward. Where the spirit was to go, they went; they didn’t turn when they went.


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As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. The fire went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.


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Now as I saw the living creatures, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it.


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The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl: and the four of them had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.


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As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around.


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When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.


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Wherever the spirit was to go, they went under the spirit’s control: and the wheels were lifted up beside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.


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When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.


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Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like an awesome crystal to look on, stretched forth over their heads above.


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Under the expanse were their wings straight, the one toward the other: each one had two which covered their bodies on this side, and each one had two which covered their bodies on that side.


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When they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of an army. When they stood, they let down their wings.


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There was a voice above the expanse that was over their heads when they stood and let down their wings.


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Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above.


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I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward. From the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.


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As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.


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<e><i>The Call of Ezekiel</i></e><br/> He said to me, son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.


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The spirit entered into me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.


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He said to me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against Me. They and their fathers have transgressed against Me even to this very day.


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The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them; and you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh’.


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They, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), will at least know that there has been a prophet among them.


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You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you do dwell among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.


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You shall speak My words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse to hear; for they are most rebellious.


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But you, son of man, hear what I tell you; don’t be rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that which I give you.


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He spread it before me. It was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations and mourning and woe.


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<e><i>Ezekiel Eats the Scroll</i></e><br/> He said to me, Son of man, eat that which you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.


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He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.


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For you are not sent to a people of a foreign speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;


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not to many peoples of a foreign speech and of a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.


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But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.


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Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.


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As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.


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Moreover He said to me, Son of man, all My words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.


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Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh;’ whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.


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Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from His place.


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I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.


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So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me.


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Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Abib, by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.<br/> <e><i>God Warns Israel</i></e>


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Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me.


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When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.


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Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have saved your own life.


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Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.


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Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you have saved your own life.


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The hand of Yahweh was there on me; and He said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.


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Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and behold, the glory of Yahweh stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.


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Then the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and He spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house.


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But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay shackles on you and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them.


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I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be mute, and unable to reprove them; for they are a rebellious house.


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But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear;’ for they are a rebellious house.


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<e><i>The Siege of Jerusalem</i></e><br/> You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it the city - Jerusalem.


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Lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.


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Take for yourself an iron pan and set it for a wall of iron between yourself and the city: and set your face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.


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Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; according to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.


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For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.


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Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it to you.


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You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it.


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Behold, I lay shackles on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege.


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Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, and put them in one vessel and make bread of it; according to the number of the days that you shall lie on your side, even three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat of it.


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Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time you shall eat it.


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You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.


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Yahweh said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will drive them.


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Then I said, Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.


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Then He said to me, Behold, I have given you cow’s dung for man’s dung, and you shall prepare your bread thereon.


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Moreover He said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:


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that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.


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<e><i>Ezekiel Shaves His Hair</i></e><br/> You, son of man, take a sharp sword. You shall use it like a barber’s razor on yourself, and shall cause it to pass on your head and on your beard. Then take balances to weigh, and divide the hair.


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A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it; and a third part you shall scatter to the wind - and I will draw out a sword after them.


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Of these again you shall take, and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; from it shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the peoples and countries which are around her.


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She has rebelled against My ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they have not walked in them.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you are rebellious more than the nations that are around you and have not walked in My statutes, neither have kept My ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you;


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therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.


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I will do in you that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations.


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Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you; and the whole remnant of you will I scatter to all the winds.


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Therefore as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall My eye spare, and I also will have no pity.


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A third part of you shall die with the plague and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you; and a third part shall fall by the sword around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.


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Thus shall My anger be accomplished, and I will cause My wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted. They shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in My zeal, when I have accomplished My wrath on them.


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Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the peoples that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by.


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So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the peoples that are around you, when I shall execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath and in furious rebukes. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.


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They shall see, when I shall send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you: when I will increase the famine on you, and will break your staff of bread.


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I will send on you famine and wild animals, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword on you: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.


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and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.


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Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.


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I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars.


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In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.


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Yet will I leave a remnant: you shall have some that escape the sword among the peoples, when you shall be scattered through the nations.


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Those of you that escape shall remember Me among the nations where they shall be carried captive because I have been broken with their lewd heart which has departed from Me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. They shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Strike with your hand and stamp with your foot and say, Alas! Because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, they shall fall by the sword, by the famine and by the plague.


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He who is far off shall die of the plague; and he who is near shall fall by the sword; and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I accomplish My wrath on them.


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You shall know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men shall be among their idols around their altars on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains and under every green tree and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.


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I will stretch out My hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations. They shall know that I am Yahweh.


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<e><i>God’s Anger Means the End Has Come</i></e><br/> Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


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You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, An end: the end has come on the four corners of the land.


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Now is the end on you, and I will send My anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations.


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My eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you. You shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of mere echoing on the mountains.


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Now will I shortly pour out My wrath on you and accomplish My anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations.


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My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity. I will bring on you according to your ways; and your abominations shall be in the midst of you; and you shall know that I, Yahweh, do strike.


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Behold, the day, behold, it comes: your doom is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.


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Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, neither of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There shall be nothing of value among them.


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The time has come, the day draws near: don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all its multitude.


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For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, even if they be still alive. The vision is touching the whole multitude of it, none shall return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.


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They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready, but none goes to the battle; for My wrath is on all its multitude.


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The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He who is in the field shall die with the sword; and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.


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But those of the ones who escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity.


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They shall also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.


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They shall throw their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yahweh. They shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their stomachs; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.


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As for the beauty of His ornament, He set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein; therefore have I made it to them as an unclean thing.


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I will give it into the hands of the gentiles for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it.


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My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane My secret place; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.


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Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be profaned.


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Mischief shall come on mischief, and rumour shall be on rumour; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.


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The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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<e><i>Temple Idolatry</i></e><br/> In the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house and the elders of Judah sat before me, the hand of the Lord Yahweh fell there on me.


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Then I saw, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal.


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He put forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the sky and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north; where there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.


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Then He said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now to the road that leads toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes toward the northern road, and behold, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy was in the entry.


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He said to me, Son of man, do you see what they do, even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, so that I should go far away from My sanctuary? But you shall again see other, greater abominations.


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Then He said to me, Son of man, dig now through the wall; and when I had dug through the wall, behold, a door.


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So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping thing and abominable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall.


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There stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odour of the cloud of incense went up.


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Then He said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, every man in his rooms of images? They say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us; Yahweh has forsaken the land’.


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Then He brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh’s house which was toward the north; and see, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.


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Then He said to me, Have you seen this, son of man? You shall again see greater abominations than these.


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He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house; and there, at the door of Yahweh’s temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward Yahweh’s temple, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east.


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Then He said to me, Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke Me to anger; and behold, they put the branch to their nose.


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Therefore will I also deal with them in anger; My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.


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<e><i>Death to the Idolaters</i></e><br/> Then He cried in my ears with a loud voice saying, Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.


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Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate which looks toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in their midst clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.


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The glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub upon which it rested, to the threshold of the house: and He called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side.


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Yahweh said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in its midst.


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To the others He said in my hearing, Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity;


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kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house.


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He said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the dead. Go forth! They went forth, and struck in the city.


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It happened, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell on my face and cried, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! Will You destroy all who remain of Israel in Your pouring out of Your wrath on Jerusalem?


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Then He said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.


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As for Me also, My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their behaviour on their heads.


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Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as You have commanded me.


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<e><i>The Glory of God in the Living Creatures Departs</i></e><br/> Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.


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He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. He went in as I watched.


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Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.


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Then the glory of Yahweh was lifted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh’s glory.


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The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.


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It came to pass, when He commanded the man clothed in linen saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, that he went in and stood beside a wheel.


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The cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim and took of it, and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out.


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I looked and behold, four wheels were beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.


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When they went, they went in their four directions. They didn’t turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they didn’t turn as they went.


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Their whole body and their backs and their hands and their wings and the wheels were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had.


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Each one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.


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When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn’t turn from beside them.


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When they stood, these stood; and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them; for the spirit of the living creature was in them.


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The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them. They stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


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This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim.


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Every one had four faces, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.


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As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves; they went each one straight forward.


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<e><i>Judah’s Leaders Condemned</i></e><br/> Moreover the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh’s house which looks eastward. At the door of the gate were twenty-five men; and I saw in their midst Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.


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He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked advice in this city;


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The Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and He said to me, Speak, Thus says Yahweh: ‘Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are indeed the meat, and this is the cauldron; but you shall be brought out of its midst.


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I will bring you out of its midst and deliver you into the hands of foreigners, and will execute judgments among you.


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You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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This shall not be your cauldron, neither shall you be the meat in its midst; I will judge you in the border of Israel;


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and you shall know that I am Yahweh: for you have not walked in My statutes, neither have you executed My ordinances, but have behaved like the nations that are around you’.


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It happened, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you make a full end of those remaining of Israel?


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Son of man, the people who live in Jerusalem are talking about you and those of your nation who are with you in exile. They say, The exiles are too far away to worship Yahweh. He has given us possession of the land.


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<e><i>Judah’s Return Promised</i></e><br/> Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come.


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Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.


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They shall return, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all its abominations.


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I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;


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that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.


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But as for those whose heart walks after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


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The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.


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The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.


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Son of man, you dwell in the midst of the rebellious people, who have eyes to see, and don’t see, who have ears to hear, and don’t hear; for they are rebellious people.


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Therefore, you son of man, prepare what you need for a journey into exile and move by day in their sight. You shall move from your place to another place in their sight: perhaps they will consider, though they are rebellious people.


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You shall bring forth your belongings by day in their sight, as belongings for exile; and you shall go forth at evening in their sight, as when men go forth into exile.


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In their sight you shall carry it on your shoulder, and carry it forth in the twilight; you shall cover your face, so that you don’t see the land; for I have set you for a sign to the house of Israel.


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I did as I was commanded: I brought forth my belongings by day, as if for exile, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand; I brought it forth in the dark, and carried it on my shoulder in their sight.


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Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the people of Israel who are in it’.


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Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done to them; they shall go into exile, into captivity.


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The prince who is among them shall carry his belongings on his shoulder in the dark, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby. He shall cover his face, because he shall not see the land with his eyes.


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My net also will I spread on him, and he shall be taken in My snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.


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I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his armies; and I will draw out the sword after them.


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They shall know that I am Yahweh, when I disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries.


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But I will preserve a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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and tell the people of the land, Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with fearfulness, and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate, and all that is therein, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein.


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The cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every prophetic vision fails?


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Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but tell them, The days are at hand, and the fulfilment of every prophetic vision.


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For I am Yahweh. I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall be performed. It shall be no more deferred; for in your days, rebellious house, will I speak the word, and will perform it, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off.


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Therefore tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: None of My words shall be deferred any more, but the word which I shall speak shall be performed, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, Hear the word of Yahweh:


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, though they have seen nothing!


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You have not gone up into the gaps, neither built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of Yahweh.


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They have seen falsehood and lying divination, they who say, Yahweh says; but Yahweh has not sent them; and they have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.


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Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination in that you say, Yahweh says; but I have not spoken?


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord Yahweh.


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My hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions, and who preach lies. They shall not be in the council of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.


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Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash.


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Tell those who plaster it with whitewash, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing storm; and on you great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it.


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Behold, when the wall has fallen, shall it not be said to you, Where is the plaster with which you have plastered it?


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will even tear it with a stormy wind in My wrath; and there shall be an overflowing storm in My anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it.


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So will I break down the wall that you have plastered with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation shall be uncovered; and it shall fall, and you shall be consumed in its midst: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Thus will I accomplish My anger on the wall, and on those who have plastered it with whitewash; and I will tell you, The wall is no more, neither those who plastered it;


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namely, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord Yahweh.


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You, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them,


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and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the women who sew magic wristbands for people and make magic scarves for everyone to wear on their heads, so that they can have power over other people's lives. You want to possess the power of life and death over My people and to use it for your own gain.


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You have profaned Me among My people in order to get handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the people who should not die, and to save the people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: I hate the wristbands that you use in your attempt to control life and death. I will rip them off your arms and set free the people that you were controlling.


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I will rip off your scarves and let My people escape from your power once and for all; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive:


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therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor practise fortune telling. I will deliver My people out of your hand; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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<e><i>Judgment on Idolaters</i></e><br/> Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me.


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Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their wickedness before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?


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Therefore speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his wickedness before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him according to the multitude of his idols;


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that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.


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Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Return and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.


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For each one of the house of Israel or of the foreigners who live in Israel who separates himself from Me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of Me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself.


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I will set My face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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If the prophet is deceived when he speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand on him, and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel.


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They shall bear their wickedness: the wickedness of the prophet shall be even as the wickedness of him who seeks him;


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that the house of Israel may go no more astray from Me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be My people, and I may be their God, says the Lord Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>Intercession Now Powerless</i></e>


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Son of man, when a land sins against Me by committing a trespass and I stretch out My hand on it, and break the staff of its bread and send famine on it and cut off from it man and animal;


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though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord Yahweh.


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If I cause evil animals to pass through the land and they ravage it and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals;


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though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.


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Or if I bring a sword on that land and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and animal;


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though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves.


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Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My anger on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal;


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though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: How much more when I send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and savage animals, and the plague, to cut off from it man and animal!


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Yet, behold, therein shall be left a few who shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters. They shall come forth to you, and you shall see their way and their doings; and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it.


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They shall comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Son of man, what is the vine plant more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?


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Shall wood be taken of it to make any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?


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See, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and its midst is burned. Is it profitable for any work?


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Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be of any use!


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: As the vine plant among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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I will set My face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am Yahweh, when I set My face against them.


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and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your birthplace is in the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.


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As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not tied neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you weren’t salted at all, nor swaddled at all.


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No eye pitied you to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open desert, because your existence was despised in the day that you were born.


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When I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, Though you are in your blood, live; yes, I said to you, Though you are in your blood, live.


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I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent beauty; your breasts were fashioned, and your hair was grown; yet you were naked and bare.


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Now when I passed by you and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread My skirt over you, and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Yahweh, and you became Mine.


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Then washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.


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I clothed you also with embroidered work, gave you shoes of sealskin, dressed you with fine linen, and covered you with silk.


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Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, honey and oil; and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to become a kingdom.


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Your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect on account of My majesty which I had put on you, says the Lord Yahweh.


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But you trusted in your beauty and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by; his it was.


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You took of your garments and made for yourselves high places decorated with various colours, and played the prostitute on them: such things shall not come, neither shall it be so.


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You also took your beautiful jewels of My gold and of My silver which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men and played the prostitute with them;


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and you took your embroidered garments and put them on the images, and set My oil and My incense before them.


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My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and thus it was, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters whom you have borne to Me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,


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that you have slain My children and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them?


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In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood.


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that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a high place in every street.


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You have built your lofty place at the head of every street, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by and multiplied your prostitution.


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You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians your lustful neighbours, and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke Me to anger.


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See therefore, I have stretched out My hand over you and have diminished your allotted portion of food, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way.


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You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren’t satisfied.


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You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this.


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How weak is your heart, says the Lord Yahweh, since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute;


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in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every street, and make your high place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay.


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They give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers and bribe them that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution.


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You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children that you gave to them;


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therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated; I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.


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I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy.


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I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places; and they shall strip you of your clothes, and take your beautiful jewels; and they shall leave you naked and bare.


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They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords.


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They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you shall also give no hire any more.


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So will I cause My wrath toward you to rest, and My jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet and will be no more angry.


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Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against Me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head, says the Lord Yahweh: and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations.


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Behold, everyone who uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.


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You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.


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Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.


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Yet have you not walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as if that were a very little thing, you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.


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As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.


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Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.


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They were proud and committed sexual abomination before Me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.


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Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done.


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You also bear you your own shame, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you: yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.


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I will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives in their midst;


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that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them.


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Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and you and your daughters shall return to your former estate.


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before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who do despite to you all around.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.


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Nevertheless I will remember My covenant made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant.


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Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant.


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that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done, says the Lord Yahweh.


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and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers of various colours, came to Lebanon, and took off the top of the cedar.


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He cropped off the highest of its young twigs and carried it to a land of commerce where he set it in a city of merchants.


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He also took the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters and set it as a willow tree.


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It grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and young shoots.


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There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. This vine bent its roots toward him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the beds of its plantation, that he might water it.


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It was planted in a good soil by many waters that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.


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Say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? and not by a strong arm or many people can it be raised from its roots.


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Yes, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind touches it? It shall wither in the beds where it grew.


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Say now to the rebellious people, Don’t you know what these things mean? Tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon.


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He took of the seed royal, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land;


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that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand.


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But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors to Egypt that they might give him horses and many people. Shall he prosper? Shall he who does such things escape? Shall he break the covenant, and yet escape?


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As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.


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Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts, to cut off many people.


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For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things; he shall not escape.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: As I live, surely My oath that he has despised, and My covenant that he has broken, I will even bring it on his own head.


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I will spread My net on him, and he shall be taken in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon and will enter into judgment with him there for his sins that he has committed against Me.


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All his fugitives in all his bands shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be scattered toward every wind: and you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.


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In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar. Under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shade of its branches shall they dwell.


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All the trees of the field shall know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it.


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What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge?


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Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.


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and has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity,


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and has not wronged any but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry and has covered the naked with a garment;


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he who has not given forth on interest neither has taken any increase, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,


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has walked in My statutes, and has kept My commandments, to deal truly: he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord Yahweh.


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and who does not any of those obligations, but even has eaten on the mountains and defiled his neighbour’s wife,


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has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,


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has given forth on interest, and has taken increase: shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die; his blood shall be on him.


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Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father’s sins which he has done, and sees, and does not such like;


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who has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbour’s wife,


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neither has wronged any, has not taken anything to pledge, neither has taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry and has clothed the naked;


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who has not oppressed the poor, who has not received interest nor increase, has kept My commandments, has walked in My statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.


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As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, see, he shall die in his iniquity.


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Yet you say, Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.


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The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.


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But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all My statutes and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.


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None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.


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Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord Yahweh; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?


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But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.


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Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, house of Israel: Is My way not fair? Aren’t your ways unfair?


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When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done shall he die.


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Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.


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Because he considers and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.


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Yet the house of Israel says, The way of the Lord is not fair. House of Israel, aren’t My ways fair? Aren’t your ways unfair?


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Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways, says the Lord Yahweh. Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.


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Cast away from you all your transgressions in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?


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For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord Yahweh: therefore turn yourselves, and live.


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<e><i>Lamentation for Judah’s Princes</i></e><br/> Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel


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and say, What was your mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her cubs.


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She brought up one of her cubs: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.


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The nations also heard of him; he was caught in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.


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Now when she saw that she had waited and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.


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He went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.


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He knew their palaces and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and its fullness, because of the noise of his roaring.


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Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was caught in their pit.


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They put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.


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Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard planted by the waters. It was fruitful and full of branches because of the many waters.


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It had strong rods for the sceptres of those who bore rule, and their height was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches.


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But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire consumed them.


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Fire is gone out of the rods of its branches, it has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.


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<e><i>Judah and Their Rebellion</i></e><br/> It happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh and they sat before me.


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Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Is it to inquire of Me that you have come? As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you.


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Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers;


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and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them saying, I am Yahweh your God;


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in that day I swore to them, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.


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I said to them, Throw away every man the abominations of his eyes, and don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.


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But they rebelled against Me, and would not listen to Me; they didn’t throw away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.


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But I worked for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among which they were, in whose sight I made Myself known to them in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.


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Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.


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But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in My statutes and they rejected My ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall live in them; and My Sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.


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But I worked for My name’s sake that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out.


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Moreover also I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;


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because they rejected My ordinances, and didn’t walk in My statutes, and profaned My Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.


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Nevertheless My eye spared them and I didn’t destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.


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I said to their children in the wilderness, Don’t walk in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols.


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and make My Sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.


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But the children rebelled against Me; they didn’t walk in My statutes, neither kept My ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall live in them: they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said that I would pour out My wrath upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness.


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Nevertheless I withdrew My hand, and worked for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them forth.


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Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries;


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because they had not executed My ordinances but had rejected My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.


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Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live;


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and I polluted them in their own gifts, because they caused their children to pass through the fire, that I might make them desolate; to the end that they might know that I am Yahweh.


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Therefore son of man speak to the house of Israel and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In this, moreover, have your fathers blasphemed Me, in that they have committed a trespass against Me.


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For when I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their pleasant aroma, and they poured out there their drink offerings.


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Then I said to them, What does the high place where you go mean? So its name is called Bamah to this day.<br/> <e><i>Restoration</i></e>


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Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Do you pollute yourselves in the way of your fathers? and do you play the prostitute after their abominations?


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When you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, do you pollute yourselves with all your idols to this day? Shall I be inquired of by you, house of Israel? As I live says the Lord Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you;


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and that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, in that you say, We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.


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As I live says the Lord Yahweh, surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out will I be king over you.


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I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out;


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and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face.


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Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, says the Lord Yahweh.


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and I will purge out from among you the rebels and those who disobey against Me; I will bring them forth out of the land where they live, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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As for you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Go, serve each one his idols, and hereafter also, if you will not listen to Me; but My holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and with your idols.


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For in My holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them, serve Me in the land. There will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your offerings, with all your holy things.


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As a pleasant aroma will I accept you when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations.


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You shall know that I am Yahweh when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country which I swore to give to your fathers.


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There you shall remember your ways and all your doings, in which you have polluted yourselves; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed.


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You shall know that I am Yahweh when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, you house of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>Against the South</i></e>


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Son of man, set your face toward the south and direct your word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the south;


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and tell the forest of the south, Hear the word of Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt thereby.


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Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word toward the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel;


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and tell the land of Israel, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth My sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.


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Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:


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and all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, have drawn forth My sword out of its sheath; it shall not return any more.


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Sigh therefore, you son of man; with the breaking of your thighs and with bitterness you will sigh before their eyes.


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It shall be, when they tell you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, Because of the news, for it is coming. Every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, every spirit shall faint and all knees shall be weak as water. It is coming, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says Yahweh: Say, A sword, a sword, it is sharpened, and also polished.


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It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter; it is polished that it may be as lightning. Shall we then laugh? The rod of My son condemns every tree.


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It is given to be polished, that it may be ready for use: the sword, it is sharpened, yes, it is polished, to give it into the hand of the killer.


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Cry and wail, son of man; for it is on My people, it is on all the princes of Israel: they are delivered over to the sword with My people; strike therefore on your thigh.


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For I am putting My people to the test, and if they refuse to repent, all these things will happen to them, says the Lord Yahweh.


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You therefore, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the deadly wounded: it is the sword of the great slaughter which surrounds them.


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I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their hearts may tremble, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made as lightning, it is pointed for slaughter.


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Gather yourselves together, go to the right, set yourselves in array, go to the left, wherever your face is set.


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Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; they both shall come forth out of one land. Mark out a place, mark it out at the head of the way to the city.


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You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified.


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For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use fortune telling. He shook the arrows back and forth, he consulted the images, he looked in the liver.


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In his right hand was the forecast for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build forts.


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It shall seem to them as a false forecast in their opinion. They have sworn solemn oaths, but he brings their guilt to remembrance, that they may be caught.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have made your wickedness to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered so that in all your doings your sins appear; because you have come to memory, you shall be taken with the hand.


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You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end,


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thus says the Lord Yahweh: Remove the mitre and take off the crown; this shall be no more the same; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high.


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I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.<br/> <e><i>Against Ammon</i></e>


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You, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and say, A sword, a sword is drawn, for the slaughter it is polished, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning;


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while they see for you false visions, while they forecast lies to you, to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end.


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Cause it to return into its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your birth, will I judge you.


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I will pour out My indignation on you; I will blow on you with the fire of My wrath; and I will deliver you into the hand of cruel men, skilful to destroy.


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You shall be for fuel to the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be remembered no more: for I, Yahweh, have spoken it.


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You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the city of blood? So now cause her to know all her abominations.


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You shall say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: The city sheds blood in the midst of her so that her time of judgment may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself!


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You have become guilty in the blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your year of judgment. Therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries.


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Those who are near and those who are far from you shall mock you, you infamous one and full of tumult.


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In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.


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Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness.


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In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.


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One has committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife, another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.


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In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, you have greedily gained from your neighbours by oppression and have forgotten Me, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Behold, therefore, I have struck My hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been shed in the midst of you.


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Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it.


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I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you.


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You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me: all of them are brass, tin, iron and lead in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.


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As they gather silver, brass, iron, lead and tin into the midst of the furnace to blow the fire onto it to melt it; so will I gather you in My anger and in My wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.


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Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.


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As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you will be melted in its midst; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out My wrath on you.


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There is a conspiracy of her prophets in its midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious things; they have made her widows many in its midst.


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Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean and have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.


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Her princes in its midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood and to destroy people so that they may get dishonest gain.


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Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions and foretelling lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, when Yahweh has not spoken.


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The people of the land have used oppression and committed robbery; yes, they have troubled the poor and needy and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.


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I sought for a man among them, who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.


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Therefore have I poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath. Their own way have I brought on their heads, says the Lord Yahweh.


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<e><i>Samaria and Jerusalem - Sisters in Prostitution</i></e><br/> The word of Yahweh came again to me saying,


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and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there were fondled the breasts of their virginity.


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Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.


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Oholah played the prostitute when she was Mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,


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who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.


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She bestowed her prostitution on them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself.


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Neither has she left her prostitution since the days of Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they fondled the breasts of her virginity; and they poured out their prostitution on her.


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Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians on whom she doted.


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These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters and her they killed with the sword, and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.


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Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her prostitution which was more than the prostitution of her sister.


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She doted on the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbours, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.


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She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,


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dressed with girdles on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them princes to look on, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.


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The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.


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So she displayed her prostitution, and uncovered her nakedness: then My soul was alienated from her, like as My soul was alienated from her sister.


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Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt.


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She doted on their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.


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Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the fondling of your bosom by the Egyptians for the breasts of your youth.


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Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side:


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the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.


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They shall come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons, and with a company of peoples; they shall set themselves against you with buckler and shield and helmet all around; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.


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I will set My jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury; they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your residue shall fall by the sword. They shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by the fire.


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Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your prostitution brought from the land of Egypt; so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul is alienated;


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and they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your labour, and shall leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prostitution shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution.


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These things shall be done to you because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You will drink of your sister’s cup, which is deep and large; you will be ridiculed and held in derision; it contains much.


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You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria.


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You shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall gnaw the broken pieces of it, and shall tear off your breasts; for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have forgotten Me, and cast Me behind your back, therefore you also shall bear your lewdness and your prostitution.


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Yahweh said moreover to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.


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For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to their idols to be devoured.


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Moreover this they have done to Me: they have defiled My sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned My Sabbaths.


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For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of My house.


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Furthermore you have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you did wash yourself, paint your eyes, and decorate yourself with ornaments,


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The voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on both their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.


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Then I said of her who was an adulteress of old, Now will they play the prostitute with her, and she with them.


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They went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute: so went they in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.


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Righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed.


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The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.


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Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.


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They shall recompense your lewdness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.


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<e><i>The Cauldron</i></e><br/> Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying,


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Son of man, write the name of the day, this selfsame day: the king of Babylon came close to Jerusalem this day.


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Utter a parable to the rebellious house and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Set on the cauldron, set it on, and also pour water into it.


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Gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.


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Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron; make it boil well; yes, let its bones be boiled in its midst.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the city of blood, to the cauldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece; no lot is fallen on it.


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For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust.


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So that it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.


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Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned.


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Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot and its brass may be hot, so that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed.


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She has wearied herself with lies; yet her great rust doesn’t go forth out of her; her rust doesn’t go forth by fire.


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In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused My wrath toward you to rest.


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I, Yahweh, have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I relent; according to your ways and according to your doings shall they judge you, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.


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Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead; bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, don’t cover your lips nor eat men’s bread.


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So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.


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Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword.


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Your ornaments shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and groan one toward another.


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Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.


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You, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters,


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In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more mute. So you will be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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and tell the people of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because you said, Aha, against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity:


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therefore behold, I will deliver you to the people of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.


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I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the people of Ammon a resting place for flocks: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have clapped your hands, stamped with the feet and rejoiced with all the despite of your soul against the land of Israel;


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therefore behold, I have stretched out My hand upon you and will deliver you for a spoil to the nations; and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries. I will destroy you; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because Moab and Seir say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations;


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therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim,


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to the people of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the people of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations.


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<e><i>Against Edom</i></e><br/> I will execute judgments on Moab; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance and has greatly offended and revenged himself on them;


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therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, I will stretch out My hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate: from Teman even to Dedan shall they fall by the sword.


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I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath; and they shall know My vengeance, says the Lord Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>Against the Philistines</i></e>


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy for the old enmity;


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therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I will stretch out My hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the rest of the sea coast.


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I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall lay My vengeance on them.


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<e><i>Against Tyre</i></e><br/> It happened in the eleventh year in the first day of the month that the word of Yahweh came to me saying,


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Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken! The gate of the peoples is now is turned to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste:


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therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.


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They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her and make her a bare rock.


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She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh; and she shall become a spoil to the nations.


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Her daughters who are in the field shall be slain with the sword; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, with chariots, with horsemen and a company, and many people.


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He shall kill your daughters in the field with the sword; and he shall make forts against you, and cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you.


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He shall set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers.


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By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you. Your walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into your gates, as men enter into a city in which is made a breach.


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With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all your streets; he shall kill your people with the sword; and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground.


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They shall make a spoil of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the waters.


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I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall be built no more: for I Yahweh have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Tyre: shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you?


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Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and strip off their embroidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit on the ground and shall tremble every moment, being astonished at you.


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They shall take up a lamentation over you and tell you, How you are destroyed, who was inhabited by mariners, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!


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Now shall the islands tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the islands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: When I shall make you a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep on you and the great waters shall cover you;


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then will I bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you to dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living.


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I will make you a terror, and you shall no more be rebuilt; though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again, says the Lord Yahweh.


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and tell Tyre: You who dwell at the entry of the sea, who are the merchant of the peoples to many islands, thus says the Lord Yahweh: You, Tyre, have said, I am perfect in beauty.


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They have made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.


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Of the oaks of Bashan have they made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood from the islands of Kittim.


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Of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you for a banner; blue and purple from the islands of Elishah was your awning.


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The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers. Your wise men, Tyre, were in you; they were your pilots.


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The old men of Gebal and the wise men of it were in you, your repairers of ship seams. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise.


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Persia, Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you; they set forth your beauty.


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The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and heroic men were in your towers; they hung their shields on your walls all around; they have perfected your beauty.


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Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin and lead they traded for your wares.


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Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for your merchandise.


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The men of Dedan were your traffickers; many islands were the market under your control. They brought you in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.


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Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks. They traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral and rubies.


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Judah and the land of Israel, they were your traffickers. They traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, and confections, honey, oil and balm.


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Damascus was your merchant for the multitude of your handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon and white wool.


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Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for your wares: bright iron, cassia and calamus were among your merchandise.


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Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of your hand. In lambs, rams, goats, in these were they your merchants.


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The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traffickers. They traded for your wares with the chief of all spices and with all precious stones and gold.


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These were your traffickers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and embroidered work and in chests of rich clothing, bound with cords and made of cedar, among your merchandise.


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The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise, and you were replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas.


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Your rowers have brought you into great waters. The east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas.


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Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners, your pilots, your repairers of ship hulls and the dealers in your merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your company which is in the midst of you, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your ruin.


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All who handled the oar, the mariners and all the pilots of the sea shall come down from their ships. They shall stand on the land,


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and shall cause their voice to be heard over you, and shall cry bitterly and shall cast up dust on their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes;


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and they shall make themselves bald for you, and clothe them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.


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In their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for you and lament over you, saying, Who is there like Tyre, like her who is brought to silence in the midst of the sea?


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When your wares went forth out of the seas, you filled many peoples; you enriched the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise.


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In the time that you were broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company fell in your midst.


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All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at you, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their face.


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The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you are become a terror, and you shall never again have any being.


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Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God.


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By your wisdom and by your understanding you have become rich, and have gathered gold and silver into your treasures.


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By your great wisdom and by your traffic you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches.


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therefore, behold, I will bring strangers on you, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they shall defile your brightness.


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They shall bring you down to the pit; and you shall die the death of those who are slain, in the heart of the seas.


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Will you yet say before him who kills you, I am God? But you are man and not God in the hand of him who stabs you.


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You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and tell him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You seal up the imitation, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.


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You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold workmanship of tambourines and of pipes was yours. In the day that you were created they were prepared.


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I put a terrifying messenger there to guard you. You lived on My holy mountain and walked among sparkling gems.


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You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.


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By the abundance of your trading they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned; therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and the angel who guarded you drove you away from the midst of the stones of fire.


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Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.


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By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trading, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you.


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All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you. You have become a terror, and your life shall end evermore.<br/> <e><i>Against Sidon</i></e>


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and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you Sidon. I will be glorified in the midst of you; and they shall know that I am Yahweh when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.


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For I will send plague into her and blood into her streets. The wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword on her on every side; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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There shall be no more a pricking brier to the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are around them, that scorned them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob.


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They shall dwell securely therein; yes, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell securely, when I have executed judgments on all those who do them despite all around them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh their God.


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<e><i>Against Pharaoh and All Egypt</i></e><br/> In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying,


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Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.


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Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said, ‘My river is My own, and I have made it for Myself’.


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I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your scales; and I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, with all the fish of your rivers which stick to your scales.


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I’ll cast you forth into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You’ll fall on the open field. You won’t be bound together, nor gathered. I have given you for food to the animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky.


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All the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.


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When they took hold of you by your hand, you broke, and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke, and paralyzed all of their thighs.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off man and animal from you.


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The land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. Because you have said, ‘The river is mine, and I have made it;’


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therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia.


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No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of animal shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.


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I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered;


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and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth; and they shall be there a base kingdom.


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It shall be the most base of the kingdoms; neither shall it any more lift itself up above the nations; and I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.


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It shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they turn to look after them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.


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It came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying,


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Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn; yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyre, for the service that he had served against it.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off her multitude and take her a spoil and take her a prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.


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I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompense for which he served, because they worked for Me, says the Lord Yahweh.


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In that day will I cause a horn to bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in their midst; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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For the day is near, even the day of Yahweh is near; it shall be a day of clouds, a time of the nations.


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A sword shall come on Egypt and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.


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Ethiopia, Put and Lud, and all the mixed people, and Cub, and the children of the land that is allied with them, shall fall with them by the sword.


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Thus says Yahweh: They also who uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Seveneh shall they fall in it by the sword, says the Lord Yahweh.


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They shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.


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They shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed.


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In that day shall messengers go forth from before Me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid; and there shall be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.


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He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.


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I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also destroy the idols and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis; there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.


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I will set a fire in Egypt; Sin shall be in great anguish, No shall be broken up and Memphis shall have adversaries in the daytime.


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The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword; and these cities shall go into captivity.


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At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.


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It happened in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


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Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and behold, it has not been bound up, to apply healing medicines, to put a bandage to bind it that it be strong to hold the sword.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.


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I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put My sword in his hand: but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.


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I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out on the land of Egypt.


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I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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<e><i>The Assyrian a Cedar in Lebanon</i></e><br/> It happened in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying,


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Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.


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The waters nourished it, the deep made it to grow. Its rivers ran all around its plantation; and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.


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Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it shot them forth.


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All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches all the animals of the field brought forth their young; and all great nations lived under its shadow.


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Thus was it beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.


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The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not like its boughs, and the plane trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.


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I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.


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Therefore thus said the Lord Yahweh: Because you are exalted in stature and he has set your top among the thick boughs and his heart is lifted up in his height,


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I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness.


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Gentiles, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off and have left him: on the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth are gone away from his shadow, and have left him.


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On his ruin all the birds of the sky shall dwell, and all the animals of the field shall be on his branches;


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so that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs. Their mighty ones shall not stand up on their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers; and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.


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I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth.


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They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, that lived under his shadow in the midst of the nations.


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To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord Yahweh.


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<e><i>More Lamentation over Egypt</i></e><br/> It happened in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying,


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Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and tell him, You were likened to a young lion of the nations: yet you are as a monster in the seas; and you broke out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet and fouled their rivers.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will spread out My net on you with a company of many peoples; and they shall bring you up in My net.


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I will leave you on the land, I will cast you forth on the open field and will cause all the birds of the sky to settle on you, and I will satisfy the animals of the whole earth with you.


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I will also water with your blood the land in which you swim, even to the mountains; and the watercourses shall be full of you.


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When I shall extinguish you, I will cover the sky and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give its light.


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All the bright lights of the sky will I make dark over you and set darkness on your land, says the Lord Yahweh.


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I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I shall bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.


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Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for you, when I shall brandish My sword before them; and they shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.


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By the swords of the mighty will I cause your multitude to fall; they are all the terrible of the nations; and they shall bring to nothing the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude shall be destroyed.


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I will destroy also all its animals from beside many waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of animals trouble them.


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When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate and waste, a land destitute of that of which it was once full, when I shall strike all those who dwell therein, then shall they know that I am Yahweh.


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This is the lamentation with which they shall lament, with which the daughters of the nations shall lament therewith; over Egypt and over all her multitude shall they lament therewith, says the Lord Yahweh.


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<e><i>Lamentation over Egypt’s Supporters</i></e><br/> It happened also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


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Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit.


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They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword, she is delivered to the sword; draw her away and all her multitudes.


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The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of Sheol with those who help him. They are gone down, they lie still, even the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.


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Assyria is there and all her company; her graves are all around her; all of them slain, fallen by the sword.


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Their graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.


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There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth. They who caused their terror in the land of the living have now borne their shame with those who go down to the pit.


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They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude; her graves are around her; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. He is put in the midst of those who are slain.


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There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude; their graves are around them; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they caused their terror in the land of the living.


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They shall not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised who are gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are on their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.


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But you shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shall lie with those who are slain by the sword.


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There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who in their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword. They shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the pit.


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There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who are gone down with the slain; in the terror which they caused by their might they are put to shame. They lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.


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When Pharaoh sees them, he will take comfort in his hordes. Pharaoh and all his army will die violently, says the Lord Yahweh.


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For I have put his terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his hordes, says the Lord Yahweh.


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<e><i>The Responsibilities of Ezekiel the Watchman</i></e><br/> The word of Yahweh came to me saying,


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Son of man, speak to the children of your people and tell them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them and set him for their watchman;


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then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and doesn’t take warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head.


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He heard the sound of the trumpet and didn’t take warning; his blood shall be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.


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But if the watchman sees the sword come and doesn’t blow the trumpet and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.


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So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me.


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When I tell the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, if you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand.


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Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.


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You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: Thus you speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live?


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Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?


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You, son of man, tell the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his disobedience; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall he who is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sins.


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When I tell the righteous that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in his iniquity that he has committed, therein shall he die.


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Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right;


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if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.


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None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.


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Yet the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not fair; but as for them, their way is not fair.


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When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.


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Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not fair. House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.<br/> <e><i>Explanation of Judah’s Demise</i></e>


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It happened in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me saying, The city has been struck.


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Now the hand of the Yahweh had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and He had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened, and I was no longer dumb.


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Son of man, they who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, ‘Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance’.


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Therefore tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Shall you possess the land?


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You rely on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbour’s wife. Shall you possess the land?


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You shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field will I give to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.


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I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; the pride of her power shall cease and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through.


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Then shall they know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.


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As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, speaking one to another, each one to his brother saying, Please come and hear what is the word that comes forth from Yahweh.


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They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.


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Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don’t do them.


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When this comes to pass (behold, it comes!), then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.


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Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?


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You eat the fat and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you don’t feed the sheep.


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You haven’t strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you caused to return that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigour you have ruled over them.


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They were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field and were scattered.


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My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, My sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth; and there was none who searched or sought them.


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As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely because My sheep became a prey, and My sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did My shepherds search for My sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed My sheep;


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require My sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver My sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.


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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I Myself, even I, will search for My sheep, and will seek them out.


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As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out My sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.


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I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.


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I will feed them with good pasture; on the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie down in a good fold; on fat pasture shall they feed on the mountains of Israel.


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I will seek that which was lost, and will cause to return that which was driven away. I will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice.


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As for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: See, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats.


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Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the remainder of your pasture; to have drunk of the clear waters, but you must foul what remains with your feet?


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As for My sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh to them: Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.


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Because you thrust with side and with shoulder and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad;


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therefore will I save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.


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I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.


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I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause dangerous animals to cease out of the land; they shall dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.


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I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing; I will cause the shower to come down in its season, there shall be showers of blessing.


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The tree of the field shall yield its fruit and the earth shall yield its increase and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.


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They shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the animals of the earth devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid.


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I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more.


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They shall know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them; and that they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord Yahweh.


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and tell it, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand against you, I will make you a desolation and an astonishment.


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Because you have had a perpetual hatred, and have given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, at the time when the punishment of their iniquity had an end;


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therefore, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you. Since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you.


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Thus will I make Mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation; and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and the one who returns.


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I will fill its mountains with its slain. In your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses shall they fall who are slain with the sword.


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I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Because you have said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas Yahweh was there.


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Therefore, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them, when I shall judge you.


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You shall know that I, Yahweh, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they have been given us to devour.


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You have magnified yourselves against Me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against Me, which I have heard.


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As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do to you. You shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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<e><i>A Prophecy about the Mountains of Israel</i></e><br/> You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because the enemy has said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are ours in possession;


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therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh. Because, even because they have made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the nations;


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therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh. Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and a mockery to the other nations that are all around;


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therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Surely in the fire of My jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed My land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.


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Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I have spoken in My zeal and in My wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations:


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therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: I have sworn saying, Surely the nations that are around you, they shall bear their shame.


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But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel; for they are at hand to return.


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and I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built.


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I will multiply on you man and animal; and they shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited after your former manner, and I will do better to you than at your beginnings; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even My people Israel; and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no more henceforth bereave them of children.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because they say to you, You are a destroyer of men, and have caused bereavement in your nation;


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therefore you shall destroy men no more, neither cause bereavement in your nation any more, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Neither will I let you hear any more the shame of the nations, neither shall you bear the reproach of the peoples any more, neither shall you cause your nation to stumble any more, says the Lord Yahweh.


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Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings. Their way before Me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.


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Therefore I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols;


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and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. According to their way and according to their doings I judged them.


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When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and are gone forth out of His land.


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But I had respect for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.


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Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.


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I will sanctify My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.


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For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.


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I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.


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I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.


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I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My laws and do them.


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You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.


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I will save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the grain and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.


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I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.


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Then you shall remember your evil ways and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.


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Not for your sake do I this, says the Lord Yahweh, be it known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the day that I cleanse you from all your wickedness, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places shall be built.


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The land that was desolate shall be cultivated whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all who passed by.


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They shall say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.


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Then the nations that are left around you shall know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: For this also will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. I will increase them with men like a flock.


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As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so shall the wasted cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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<e><i>The Valley of Dry Bones Comes to Life</i></e><br/> The hand of Yahweh was on me and He brought me out in the Spirit of Yahweh, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.


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He caused me to pass by them all around: and, there were very many in the open valley; and, they were very dry.


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Again He said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, you dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: I will cause spirit to enter into you, and you shall live.


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I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.


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So I prophesied as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise, and an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.


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I saw, and, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.


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Then He said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.


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So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army.


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Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are totally cut off.


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Therefore prophesy and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.


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You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves, My people, and caused you to come up out of your graves.


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I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; and you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it, says Yahweh.<br/> <e><i>Unity and United Rule</i></e>


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You, son of man, take one stick and write on it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions. Then take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.


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When the children of your people shall speak to you saying, Will you not show us what you mean by these?


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tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand.


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Say to them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they are gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land.


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I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.


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Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. So shall they be My people, and I will be their God.


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My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes and do them.


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They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they shall dwell therein, they and their children and their children’s children, forever: and David My servant shall be their prince for ever.


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Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.


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The nations shall know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in their midst forevermore.


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Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him


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and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.


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I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and will bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armour, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;


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Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north and all his hordes; even many peoples with you.


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Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies who are assembled to you, and be a guard to them.


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After many days you shall be visited. In the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely all of them.


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You shall ascend, you shall come like a storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: It shall happen in that day, that thoughts shall come into your mind, and you shall devise an evil plan.


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You shall say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates;


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to take the spoil and to take the wealth; to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten livestock and goods, who dwell in the middle of the land.


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Sheba, Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all her young lions, shall say to you: Have you come to take the spoil? Have you assembled your company to take the wealth? To carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great spoil?


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Therefore, son of man, prophesy and tell Gog, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In that day when My people Israel dwells securely, shall you not know it?


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You shall come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army;


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and you shall come up against My people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land. It shall happen in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, that the nations may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.


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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?


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It shall happen in that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh, that My wrath shall come up into My nostrils.


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For in My anger and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;


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so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field and all creeping things which creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the surface of the earth, shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall and every wall shall fall to the ground.


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I will call to all My mountains for a sword against him, says the Lord Yahweh. Every man’s sword shall be against his brother.


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With pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his hordes and on the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and sulphur.


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I will magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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<e><i>The Destruction of Gog</i></e><br/> You, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech, and Tubal:


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and I will turn you around, and will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you on the mountains of Israel;


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and I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.


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You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to the birds of prey of every sort, and to the animals of the field to be devoured.


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I will send a fire on Magog, and on those who dwell confidently along the sea coasts; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.


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My holy name will I make known in the midst of My people Israel; neither will I allow My holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel.


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Behold, it has come, and it is done, says the Lord Yahweh; this is the day about which I have spoken.


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Those who dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs, and the spears, and they shall make fires of them seven years.


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They shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them, says the Lord Yahweh.


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It shall happen in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it shall stop those who pass through. There shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it The valley of Hamon Gog.


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Yes, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them for a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord Yahweh.


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After the seven months are over, men will be chosen to travel through the land in order to find and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, so that they can cleanse the land.


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They shall go up and down the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, until the undertakers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog.


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You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Speak thus to the birds of prey, and to every animal of the field: Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.


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You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.


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You shall eat fat until you be full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.


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You shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, says the Lord Yahweh.


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I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My hand that I have laid on them.


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The nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against Me, and I hid My face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword.


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According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I to them; and I hid My face from them.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name.


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They shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against Me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and none shall make them afraid;


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when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations.


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They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land; and I will leave none of them any more there;


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neither will I hide My face any more from them; for I have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh.


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<e><i>The New Temple Area Described</i></e><br/> In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, on that very day, the hand of Yahweh was on me and He brought me there.


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In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south.


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He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.


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The man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you; for you are brought here with the intent that I may show these things to you: declare all that you see to the people of Israel.


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See, a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a handbreadth each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.


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Then he came to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up its steps: and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold, one reed broad.


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Every lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad; and the space between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed.


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Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house.


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The lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side and three on that side; these three were of the same measure: and the posts had the same measure on this side and on that side.


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He measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits;


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and a border before the lodges of one cubit on this side, and a border of one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.


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He measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits; door against door.


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From the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits.


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There were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts within the gate all around, and likewise to the arches; and windows were around inward; and on each post were palm trees.<br/> <e><i>The Outer Court of the Temple</i></e>


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Then brought he me into the outer court; and behold, there were rooms and a pavement, made for the court all around: thirty rooms were on the pavement.


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The pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement.


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Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north.<br/> <e><i>The Gate Which Is toward the North</i></e>


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The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured its length and its breadth.


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The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arches were after the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.


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The windows of it, and its arches, and the palm trees of it, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arches were before them.


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There was a gate to the inner court over against the other gate, both on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits.<br/> <e><i>The Gate Which Is toward the South</i></e><br/>


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He led me toward the south; and behold, a gate toward the south: and he measured its posts and its arches according to these measures.


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There were windows in it and in its arches all around, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.


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There were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts.


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There was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits.<br/> <e><i>The Inner Court Gates</i></e><br/>


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Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;


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and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad.


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The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts: and the ascent to it had eight steps.


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He brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures;


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and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad.


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The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.


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its lodges, its posts, and its arches: and there were windows therein all around; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.


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The posts of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.<br/> <e><i>The Sacrifice Preparation Rooms</i></e>


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In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to kill thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.


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On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.


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Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they killed the sacrifices.


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There were four tables for the burnt offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice.


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The hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened within all around: and on the tables was the flesh of the offering.<br/> <e><i>The Priests’ Rooms</i></e>


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Outside of the inner gate were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.


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He said to me, This room, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the house;


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and the room whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to Him.


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He measured the court, one hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar was before the house.<br/> <e><i>The Temple Porch and Details</i></e>


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Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.


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The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; even by the steps by which they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.


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<e><i>Measurements of the Temple Building</i></e><br/> He brought me to the temple and measured the doorposts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the structure.


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The breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits.


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Then he went inside and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits.


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He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple. He said to me, This is the most holy place.


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Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side.


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The side rooms were in three floors, one over another, and thirty on each floor. The outer wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without being anchored into it.


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The walls of the house, when seen from the outside, seemed to have the same thickness all the way to the top. Against the house's outer wall, on the outside of the rooms, two wide stairways were built, so that it was possible to go from the lower story to the middle and the upper stories.


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I saw also that the house had a raised base all around: the foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits.


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The thickness of the wall, which was for the side rooms, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house.


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The doors of the side rooms were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the free space that was left was five cubits all around.


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The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.


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So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;


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also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.


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He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the porches of the court;


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the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, over against the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered),


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to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure.


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It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and each cherub had two faces;


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so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. Thus was it made through all the house all around:


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from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made: thus was the wall of the temple.


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As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance of it was as the appearance of the temple.


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The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh.


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The doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves: two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other.


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There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.


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There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side rooms of the house, and the thresholds.


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<e><i>More on the Priests’ Rooms</i></e><br/> Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the room that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the north.


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The length of the building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits, and the breadth was fifty cubits.


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Over against the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story.


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Before the rooms was a walk of ten cubits’ breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.


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Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middle, in the building.


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For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the courts. Thus the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones.


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The wall that was outside by the side of the rooms, toward the outer court before the rooms, its length was fifty cubits.


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For the length of the rooms that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and see, before the temple were one hundred cubits.


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In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were rooms.


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The way before them was like the appearance of the way of the rooms which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.


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According to the doors of the rooms that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.


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Then he said to me, The north rooms and the south rooms, which are before the separate place, they are the holy rooms, where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.


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When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people.


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Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it all around.


