The Price of Prophetic Truth: Betrayal, Judgment, and the Hope of Return
Jeremiah 12
1 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 those at ease who deal very treacherously?
2 You have planted them; yes, they have taken root. They grow; yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. 3 But you, Yahweh, know me. You see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals and the birds are consumed; because they said, “He won't see our latter end.”
5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? Though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?
6 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.
7 “I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8 My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has raised up her voice against me; therefore I have hated her. 9 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.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11 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.
12 Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Yahweh devours from one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace. 13 They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing. You will be ashamed of your harvests, because of Yahweh's fierce anger.”
14 Yahweh says, “Concerning all my evil neighbors, 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. 15 It will 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 heritage, and every man to his land. 16 It will 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 they will be built up in the middle of my people. 17 But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says Yahweh.
Jeremiah 13
1 Yahweh said to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don't put it in water.” 2 So I bought a belt according to Yahweh's word, and put it on my waist.
3 Yahweh's word came to me the second time, saying, 4 “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.” 5 So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me.
6 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.” 7 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 profitable for nothing.
8 Then Yahweh's word came to me, saying, 9 “Yahweh says, ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing. 11 For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me,’ 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.’
12 “Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says, Every bottle shall be filled with wine.’ They will tell you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’ 13 Then tell them, ‘Yahweh says, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14 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.’”
15 Hear, and give ear. Don't be proud; for Yahweh has spoken. 16 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 deep darkness.
17 But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh's flock has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your crowns have come down, even the crown of your glory. 19 The cities of the South are shut up, and there is no one to open them. Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? 21 What will you say when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Won't sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail? 22 If you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things come on me?’ Your skirts are uncovered because of the greatness of your iniquity, and your heels suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil. 24 Therefore I will scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness. 25 This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,” says Yahweh; “because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.”
26 “Therefore I have also uncovered your skirts on your face, and your shame has appeared. 27 I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighings, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean. How long will it yet be?”
Jeremiah 14
1 Yahweh's word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.
2 “Judah mourns, and its gates languish. They sit in black on the ground. The cry of Jerusalem has gone up. 3 Their nobles send their servants for water. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads. 4 Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the farmers are disappointed. They cover their heads. 5 Yes, the doe in the field also calves, and forsakes her young, because there is no grass. 6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail, because there is no vegetation.
7 Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name's sake, Yahweh; for our backslidings are many. We have sinned against you. 8 You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a traveler who turns aside to stay for a night? 9 Why should you be like a man astonished, as a mighty man who can't save? Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us, and we are called by your name. Don't leave us.
10 Yahweh says to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore Yahweh does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins.”
11 Yahweh said to me, “Don't pray for this people for their good. 12 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 pestilence.”
13 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”
14 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, divination, a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. 15 Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I didn't send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land’: By sword and famine those prophets will be consumed. 16 The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their wickedness on them.
17 “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. 18 If I go out 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.’”
19 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! 20 We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you. 21 Do not abhor us, for your name's sake. Do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, and don't break your covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the skies give showers? Aren't you he, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.
Jeremiah 15
1 Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out! 2 It will happen, when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: Such as are for death, to death; such as are for the sword, to the sword; such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.’
3 “I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 “For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will mourn you? Who will turn aside to ask how you are doing? 6 You have rejected me,” says Yahweh. “You have gone backward. Therefore I have stretched out my hand against you, and destroyed you. I am weary of relenting. 7 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 did not return from their ways. 8 Their widows are increased to me more than 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. 9 She who has borne seven languishes. She has given up the spirit. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been disappointed and confounded. I will deliver their residue to the sword before their enemies,” says Yahweh.
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them curses me.
11 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.
12 “Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze? 13 Your substance and your treasures I will give for a plunder without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders. 14 I will make you to pass with your enemies into a land which you don't know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which will burn on you.”
15 Yahweh, you know. Remember me, visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. You are patient, so don't take me away. Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach. 16 Your words were found, and I ate them; and your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, Yahweh, God of Armies. 17 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. 18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
19 Therefore Yahweh says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them. 20 I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” says Yahweh. 21 “I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.”
Jeremiah 16
1 Yahweh's word came also to me, saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.” 3 For Yahweh says 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: 4 “They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.”
5 For Yahweh says, “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. 6 Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, neither will men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 7 Men will not break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither will men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8 “You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.” 9 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 “It will happen, when you tell this people all these words, and they ask 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?’ 11 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 worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. 12 You have done evil more than your fathers; for behold, you walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don't listen to me. 13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
14 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that it will no more be said, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt’; 15 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.
16 “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. 18 First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”
19 Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit. 20 Should a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?”
21 “Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they will know that my name is Yahweh.”
Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.
