Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin; not one of them is missing.

Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils. For why should they be given special consideration?

Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” The sovereign Lord who commands armies has spoken.

But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

In a burst of anger I rejected you momentarily, but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,” says your protector, the Lord.

We all growl like bears, we coo mournfully like doves; we wait for deliverance, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us.

The following is a record of what Jeremiah son of Hilkiah prophesied. He was one of the priests who lived at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.

So take warning, Jerusalem, or I will abandon you in disgust and make you desolate, a place where no one can live.”

If you stop doing these things, I will allow you to continue to live in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession.

For the Lord will rescue the descendants of Jacob. He will secure their release from those who had overpowered them.

“I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me.

So they pulled Jeremiah up from the cistern with ropes. Jeremiah, however, still remained confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse.

“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

“When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

I will exhaust my rage on you, and then my fury will turn from you. I will calm down and no longer be angry.

Those both near and far from you will mock you, you with your bad reputation, full of turmoil.

“Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.

I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct.

It has tried my patience; yet its thick rot is not removed from it. Subject its rot to the fire!