Book of Jeremiah

"Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life."

"Do not put your trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah!’ For if you truly reform your ways and actions; if you truly uphold justice between a man and his neighbor; if you do not oppress foreign residents, orphans, and widows; if you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm; then I will allow you to keep residing in this place, in the land I gave to your forefathers for all time."

"They cling to deceit;"

"Let not the wise boast of their wisdom"

"But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation."

"Gather up your bundle from the ground, O woman dwelling under siege. For this is what Jehovah says: “Here I am hurling the inhabitants out of the land at this time, And I will cause them to experience distress.” Woe to me because of my breakdown! My wound is incurable. And I said: “Surely this is my sickness, and I must bear it."

"Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons."

"I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step. Correct me, O Jehovah, however with judgment; not in your anger, that you may not reduce me to nothing. Pour out your rage upon the nations who have ignored you, and upon the families who have not called even upon your name. For they have eaten up Jacob. Yes, they have eaten him up, and they keep at exterminating him; and his abiding place they have desolated."

"Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth"

"The heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it?"

"I will thwart the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those seeking to take their life. And I will give their dead bodies as food to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city an object of horror and something to whistle at. Every last one passing by it will stare in horror and whistle over all its plagues. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will each eat the flesh of his fellow man, because of the siege and their desperation when they are hemmed in by their enemies and those seeking to take their life."

"And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them."

"And I will bring back the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel, and I will build them up as I did at the start. And I will purify them from all the guilt of their sins against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sins and their transgressions against me. And she will become to me a name of exultation, a praise, and a beauty before all the nations of the earth who will hear of all the goodness that I bestow on them. And they will be in dread and will tremble because of all the goodness and peace that I will bestow on her."

"Therefore this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Here I am determined to bring calamity on you, to destroy all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all perish in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword and perish by the famine; from the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword and by famine. And they will become a curse, an object of horror, a malediction, and a reproach. I will punish those dwelling in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence. And the remnant of Judah who have gone to reside in the land of Egypt will not escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. They will long to return and dwell there, but they will not return, except for a few escapees.’"

"They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. My people hath 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 restingplace.All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers."

"Jehovah then said to me: “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have returned to the errors of their forefathers of old, who refused to obey my words. They too have followed other gods and have served them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their forefathers. Therefore this is what Jehovah says, ‘Here I am bringing on them a calamity that they will not be able to escape. When they call to me for help, I will not listen to them."