They will disappoint you, those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. Each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue you.”

You will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those who are in dark dungeons, ‘Emerge.’ They will graze beside the roads; on all the slopes they will find pasture.

(just as many were horrified by the sight of you) he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man;

Indeed, nations or kingdoms that do not serve you will perish; such nations will be totally destroyed.

Sharon will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor a place where cattle graze; they will belong to my people, who seek me.

As a mother consoles a child, so I will console you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

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.

Why do you constantly go about changing your political allegiances? You will get no help from Egypt just as you got no help from Assyria.

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.

Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to the gods called Baal, as their fathers taught them to do.

You people of Israel, listen to what the Lord has to say to you.

This is your fate, the destiny to which I have appointed you, because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah about the drought.

For he did not kill me before I came from the womb, making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever.

The answer will come back, “It is because they broke their covenant with the Lord their God and worshiped and served other gods.”

You will never come back to this land to which you will long to return!”

Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Israel will live in security. This is the name he will go by: ‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’

The Lord says, “I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’

I will bring on you lasting shame and lasting disgrace which will never be forgotten!’”

“Therefore, the Lord who rules over all says, ‘You have not listened to what I said.