Before I formed thee in embryo I knew thee; and before thou wast born I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet to the nations.

Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thy espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Israel was holiness to the LORD, and the first-fruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

For though thou shalt wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thy iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

Why dost thou go about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the fowls of the heavens had fled.

I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.

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

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 have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.

But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not 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.

Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain on the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

Yes, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.

And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed, because there was no grass.

She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath resigned her breath; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which was uttered by my lips was right before thee.

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

Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.

For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach to me, and a derision, daily.

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

Cursed be the day in which I was born: let not the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

Why was I brought into the world to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

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, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;

And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

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 Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;

Nevertheless 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.

And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests, and of all the people, saying,

For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.

Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, and even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.

Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet to me.

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, saith the LORD:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house.

So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison, according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

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

So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:

Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet confined in the court of the prison, saying,

And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, who was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:

Now the king sat in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.

And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the scribe's pen-knife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,

And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.

Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

Now when Ebed-melech the Cushite, one of the eunuchs 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;

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.

So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.

Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, while he was confined in the court of the prison, saying,

And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him.

Now the pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.

Wherefore my fury 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 at this day.

Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, who was by the river Euphrates in Carshemish, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace, and look not back: for fear was on all sides, saith the LORD.

And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Beth-el their confidence.

For was not Israel a derision to thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou hast spoken of him, thou hast leaped for joy.

For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drank; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.

The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise of it was heard in the Red sea.

I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.

For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah by his God, by the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.

Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

And 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.

Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth from 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 by the city on all sides:) and they went by the way of the plain.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,

Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

And the basins, and the fire-pans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, the captain of the guard took away.

The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

And concerning the pillars, the hight of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits encompassed it; and the thickness of it was four fingers: it was hollow.

And a capital of brass was upon it; and the hight of one capital was five cubits, with net-work and pomegranates upon the capitals around, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like to these.

And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.

And for his food there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.