A Call to Repentance

¹The Lord says, “People of Israel, if you want to turn, then turn back to me. If you are faithful to me and remove the idols I hate,

²it will be right for you to swear by my name. Then all the nations will ask me to bless them, and they will praise me.”

³The Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “Plow up your unplowed fields; do not plant your seeds among thorns.

⁴Keep your covenant with me, your Lord, and dedicate yourselves to me, you people of Judah and Jerusalem. If you don't, my anger will burn like fire because of the evil things you have done. It will burn, and there will be no one to put it out.”

Judah Is Threatened with Invasion

⁵Blow the trumpet throughout the land! Shout loud and clear! Tell the people of Judah and Jerusalem to run to the fortified cities.

⁶Point the way to Zion! Run for safety! Don't delay! The Lord is bringing disaster and great destruction from the north.

⁷Like a lion coming from its hiding place, a destroyer of nations has set out. He is coming to destroy Judah. The cities of Judah will be left in ruins, and no one will live in them.

⁸So put on sackcloth, and weep and wail because the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from Judah.

⁹The Lord said, “On that day kings and officials will lose their courage; priests will be shocked and prophets will be astonished.”

¹⁰Then I said, “Sovereign Lord, you have completely deceived the people of Jerusalem! You have said there would be peace, but a sword is at their throats.”

¹¹The time is coming when the people of Jerusalem will be told that a scorching wind is blowing in from the desert toward them. It will not be a gentle wind that only blows away the chaff—

¹²the wind that comes at the Lord's command will be much stronger than that! It is the Lord himself who is pronouncing judgment on his people.

Judah Is Surrounded by Enemies

¹³Look, the enemy is coming like clouds. Their war chariots are like a whirlwind, and their horses are faster than eagles. We are lost! We are doomed!

¹⁴Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart, so that you may be saved. How long will you go on thinking sinful thoughts?

¹⁵Messengers from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim announce the bad news.

¹⁶They have come to warn the nations and to tell Jerusalem that enemies are coming from a country far away. These enemies will shout against the cities of Judah

¹⁷and will surround Jerusalem like men guarding a field, because her people have rebelled against the Lord. The Lord has spoken.

¹⁸Judah, you have brought this on yourself by the way you have lived and by the things you have done. Your sin has caused this suffering; it has stabbed you through the heart.

Jeremiah's Sorrow for His People

¹⁹The pain! I can't bear the pain! My heart! My heart is beating wildly! I can't keep quiet; I hear the trumpets and the shouts of battle.

²⁰One disaster follows another; the whole country is left in ruins. Suddenly our tents are destroyed; their curtains are torn to pieces.

²¹How long must I see the battle raging and hear the blasts of trumpets?

²²The Lord says, “My people are stupid; they don't know me. They are like foolish children; they have no understanding. They are experts at doing what is evil, but failures at doing what is good.”

Jeremiah's Vision of the Coming Destruction

²³I looked at the earth—it was a barren waste; at the sky—there was no light.

²⁴I looked at the mountains—they were shaking, and the hills were rocking back and forth.

²⁵I saw that there were no people; even the birds had flown away.

²⁶The fertile land had become a desert; its cities were in ruins because of the Lord's fierce anger.

²⁷(The Lord has said that the whole earth will become a wasteland, but that he will not completely destroy it.)

²⁸The earth will mourn; the sky will grow dark. The Lord has spoken and will not change his mind. He has made his decision and will not turn back.

²⁹At the noise of the cavalry and archers everyone will run away. Some will run to the forest; others will climb up among the rocks. Every town will be left empty, and no one will live in them again.

³⁰Jerusalem, you are doomed! Why do you dress in scarlet? Why do you put on jewelry and paint your eyes? You are making yourself beautiful for nothing! Your lovers have rejected you and want to kill you.

³¹I heard a cry, like a woman in labor, a scream like a woman bearing her first child. It was the cry of Jerusalem gasping for breath, stretching out her hand and saying, “I am doomed! They are coming to kill me!”

Egypt Is Compared to a Cedar Tree

¹On the first day of the third month of the eleventh year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me.

²“Mortal man,” he said, “say to the king of Egypt and all his people: How powerful you are! What can I compare you to?

³You are like a cedar in Lebanon, With beautiful, shady branches, A tree so tall it reaches the clouds.

⁴There was water to make it grow, And underground rivers to feed it. They watered the place where the tree was growing And sent streams to all the trees of the forest.

⁵Because it was well-watered, It grew taller than other trees. Its branches grew thick and long.

⁶Every kind of bird built nests in its branches; The wild animals bore their young in its shelter; The nations of the world rested in its shade.

⁷How beautiful the tree was— So tall, with such long branches. Its roots reached down to the deep-flowing streams.

⁸No cedar in God's garden could compare with it. No fir tree ever had such branches, And no plane tree such limbs. No tree in God's own garden was so beautiful.

⁹I made it beautiful, with spreading branches. It was the envy of every tree in Eden, the garden of God.

¹⁰“Now then, I, the Sovereign Lord, will tell you what is going to happen to that tree that grew until it reached the clouds. As it grew taller it grew proud;

¹¹so I have rejected it and will let a foreign ruler have it. He will give that tree what it deserves for its wickedness.

¹²Ruthless foreigners will cut it down and leave it. Its branches and broken limbs will fall on every mountain and valley in the country. All the nations that have been living in its shade will go away.

¹³The birds will come and perch on the fallen tree, and the wild animals will walk over its branches.

¹⁴And so from now on, no tree, no matter how well-watered it is, will grow that tall again or push its top through the clouds and reach such a height. All of them are doomed to die like mortals, doomed to join those who go down to the world of the dead.”

¹⁵This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “On the day when the tree goes to the world of the dead, I will make the underground waters cover it as a sign of mourning. I will hold back the rivers and not let the many streams flow out. Because the tree has died, I will bring darkness over the Lebanon Mountains and make all the trees of the forest wither.

¹⁶When I send it down to the world of the dead, the noise of its downfall will shake the nations. All the trees of Eden and all the choice, well-watered trees of Lebanon who have gone to the world below will be pleased at its downfall.

¹⁷They will go with it to the world of the dead to join those that have already fallen. And all who live under its shadow will be scattered among the nations.

¹⁸“The tree is the king of Egypt and all his people. Not even the trees in Eden were so tall and impressive. But now, like the trees of Eden, it will go down to the world of the dead and join the ungodly and those killed in battle. I have spoken,” says the Sovereign Lord.

The King of Egypt Is Compared to a Crocodile

¹On the first day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me.

²“Mortal man,” he said, “give a solemn warning to the king of Egypt. Give him this message from me: You act like a lion among the nations, but you are more like a crocodile splashing through a river. You muddy the water with your feet and pollute the rivers.

³When many nations gather, I will catch you in my net and let them drag the net ashore.

⁴I will throw you out on the ground and bring all the birds and animals of the world to feed on you.

⁵I will cover mountains and valleys with your rotting corpse.

⁶I will pour out your blood until it spreads over the mountains and fills the streams.

⁷When I destroy you, I will cover the sky and blot out the stars. The sun will hide behind the clouds, and the moon will give no light.

⁸I will put out all the lights of heaven and plunge your world into darkness. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

⁹“Many nations will be troubled when I spread the news of your destruction through countries you never heard of.

¹⁰What I do to you will shock many nations. When I swing my sword, kings will shudder with fright. On the day you fall, all of them will tremble in fear for their own lives.”

¹¹The Sovereign Lord says to the king of Egypt, “You will face the sword of the king of Babylonia.

¹²I will let soldiers from cruel nations draw their swords and kill all your people. All your people and everything else that you are proud of will be destroyed.

¹³I will slaughter your cattle at every water hole. There will be no people or cattle to muddy the water any more.

¹⁴I will let your waters settle and become clear and let your rivers run calm. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

¹⁵When I make Egypt a desolate wasteland and destroy all who live there, they will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁶This solemn warning will become a funeral song. The women of the nations will sing it to mourn for Egypt and all its people. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

The World of the Dead

¹⁷On the fifteenth day of the first month of the twelfth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me.

¹⁸“Mortal man,” he said, “mourn for all the many people of Egypt. Send them down with the other powerful nations to the world of the dead.

¹⁹Say to them: “Do you think you are more beautiful than anyone else? You will go down to the world of the dead and lie there among the ungodly.

²⁰“The people of Egypt will fall with those who are killed in battle. A sword is ready to kill them all.

²¹The greatest heroes and those who fought on the Egyptian side welcome the Egyptians to the world of the dead. They shout: ‘The ungodly who were killed in battle have come down here, and here they lie!’

²²“Assyria is there, with the graves of her soldiers all around. They were all killed in battle,

²³and their graves are in the deepest parts of the world of the dead. All her soldiers fell in battle, and their graves surround her tomb. Yet once they terrified the land of the living.

²⁴“Elam is there, with the graves of her soldiers all around. They were all killed in battle, and they went down, uncircumcised, to the world of the dead. In life they spread terror, but now they lie dead and disgraced.

²⁵Elam lies down among those killed in battle, and the graves of her soldiers are all around her. They are all uncircumcised, all killed in battle. In life they spread terror, but now they lie dead and disgraced, sharing the fate of those killed in battle.

²⁶“Meshech and Tubal are there, with the graves of their soldiers all around. They are all uncircumcised, all killed in battle. Yet once they terrified the living.

²⁷They were not given honorable burial like the heroes of ancient times, who went fully armed to the world of the dead, their swords placed under their heads and their shields over their bodies. These heroes were once powerful enough to terrify the living.

²⁸“That is how the Egyptians will lie crushed among the uncircumcised who were killed in battle.

²⁹“Edom is there with her kings and rulers. They were powerful soldiers, but now they lie in the world of the dead with the uncircumcised who were killed in battle.

³⁰“All the princes of the north are there, and so are the Sidonians. Their power once spread terror, but now they go down in disgrace with those killed in battle and are laid to rest, uncircumcised. They share the disgrace of those who go down to the world of the dead.

³¹“The sight of all these who were killed in battle will be a comfort to the king of Egypt and his army,” says the Sovereign Lord.

³²“I caused the king of Egypt to terrorize the living, but he and all his army will be killed and laid to rest with all the uncircumcised who die in battle.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

¹⁷People with a hot temper do foolish things; wiser people remain calm.

¹⁸Ignorant people get what their foolishness deserves, but the clever are rewarded with knowledge.

¹⁹Evil people will have to bow down to the righteous and humbly beg their favor.

²⁰No one likes the poor, not even their neighbors, but the rich have many friends.