have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they
shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil
family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall
he turn away, and not return?
5 Why thenis this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast
deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, butthey spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness,
saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the
swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
8 How do ye say, We arewise, and the law of the LORD iswith us? Lo, certainly in vain made he
it; the pen of the scribes isin vain.
9 The wise menare ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of
the LORD; and what wisdom isin them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, andtheir fields to them that shall inherit
them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the
prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace;
when there isno peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all
ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of
their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
13 I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall beno grapes on the vine, nor figs on
the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things thatI have given them shall pass away from
them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let
us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to
drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; andfor a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the
neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it;
the city, and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which willnot becharmed, and
they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
18 WhenI would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart isfaint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far
country: Isnot the LORD in Zion? isnot her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger
with their graven images, andwith strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken
hold on me.
22 Is thereno balm in Gilead; is thereno physician there? why then is not the health of the
daughter of my people recovered?
1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and
night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 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 beall adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

3 And they bend their tongues liketheir bow forlies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon
the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother
will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught
their tongue to speak lies, andweary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Thine habitation isin the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the
LORD.
7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall
I do for the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is asan arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: onespeaketh peaceably to his
neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a
nation as this?
10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the
wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them;
neither can menhear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are
fled; they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, anda den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah
desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 Who isthe wise man, that may understand this? and who is heto whom the mouth of the
LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth andis burned up like a
wilderness, that none passeth through?
13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have
not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their
fathers taught them:
15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, eventhis
people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have
known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may
come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
18 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.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded,
because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast usout.
20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth,
and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
21 For death is come up into our windows, andis entered into our palaces, to cut off the
children from without, andthe young men from the streets.
22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field,
and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise manglory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man
glory in his might, let not the rich manglory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I amthe
LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these
thingsI delight, saith the LORD.
25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which arecircumcised

with the uncircumcised;
26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that arein the
utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all thesenations areuncircumcised, and all
the house of Israel areuncircumcised in the heart.
1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of
heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people arevain: for onecutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of
the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it
move not.
5 They areupright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they
cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is itin them to do good.
6 Forasmuch as there isnone like unto thee, O LORD; thou artgreat, and thy name isgreat in
might.
7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among
all the wise menof the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there isnone like unto thee.
8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock isa doctrine of vanities.
9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the
workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple istheir clothing: they areall the work
of cunning men.
10 But the LORD isthe true God, he isthe living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the
earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even
they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath
stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
13 When he uttereth his voice, there isa multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth
the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth
forth the wind out of his treasures.
14 Every man is brutish in hisknowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for
his molten image isfalsehood, and there isno breath in them.
15 They arevanity, andthe work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob isnot like them: for he isthe former of all things; and Israel isthe rod
of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts ishis name.
17 Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
18 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and
will distress them, that they may find it so.
19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this isa grief, and I must
bear it.
20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and
they arenot: there isnone to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not
prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to
make the cities of Judah desolate, anda den of dragons.
23 O LORD, I know that the way of man isnot in himself: it isnot in man that walketh to direct
his steps.
24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.