For I will soon summon all the peoples of the kingdoms of the north,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;They will come and their kings will set up their thrones<n id="1" /> near the entrances of the gates of Jerusalem.<n id="2" /> They will attack all the walls surrounding it, and all the towns in Judah.<n id="3" />

&#8220;Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;I have fond memories of you,<n id="2" /> how devoted you were to me in your early years.<n id="3" /> I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north.<n id="1" /> Tell them,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Come back to me, wayward Israel,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will not continue to look on you with displeasure.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For I am merciful,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will not be angry with you forever.p>

At that time the city of Jerusalem<n id="1" /> will be called the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s throne. All nations will gather there in Jerusalem to honor the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s name.<n id="2" /> They will no longer follow the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts.<n id="3" />

&#8220;Stand in the gate of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and proclaim<n id="1" /> this message: &#8216;Listen, all you people of Judah who have passed through these gates to worship the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> Hear what the <sc>Lordsc> has to say.

You also have done all these things, says the <sc>Lordsc>, and I have spoken to you over and over again.<n id="1" /> But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent!<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Vent it on the peoples<n id="2" /> who do not worship you.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have destroyed the people of Jacob.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">They have completely destroyed them<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">and left their homeland in utter ruin.p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: &#8216;Listen to the terms of my covenant with you<n id="1" /> and carry them out!

So, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> do not pray for these people. Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf. Do not plead with me to save them.<n id="2" /> For I will not listen to them when they call out to me for help when disaster strikes them.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">As a matter of fact,<n id="1" /> even your own brothersp> <p class="poetry">and the members of your own family have betrayed you too.p> <p class="poetry">Even they have plotted to do away with you.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So do not trust them even when they say kind things<n id="3" /> to you.p>

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8220;The time will soon come that people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Hinnom Valley. But they will call this valley<n id="2" /> the Valley of Slaughter!

But the next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. When he did, Jeremiah said to him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s name for you is not &#8216;Pashhur&#8217; but &#8216;Terror is Everywhere.&#8217;<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant<n id="1" /> with all the people in Jerusalem<n id="2" /> to grant their slaves their freedom.

<p class="bodytext">So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Then Jeremiah dictated to Baruch everything the <sc>Lordsc> had told him to say and Baruch wrote it all down in a scroll.<n id="1" />

All the people living in Jerusalem<n id="1" /> and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah came to observe a fast before the <sc>Lordsc>. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.<n id="2" />

At that time Baruch went into the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary.<n id="1" /> That room was in the upper court<n id="2" /> near the entrance of the New Gate.<n id="3" /> There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said.<n id="4" />p>

The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He went and got it from the room of Elishama, the royal secretary. Then he himself<n id="1" /> read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him.

As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns<n id="1" /> of the scroll, the king<n id="2" /> would cut them off with a penknife<n id="3" /> and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire.<n id="4" />

<p class="lamhebrew">&#1513; (<i>Sin/Shini>)p> <p class="poetry">They have heard<n id="1" /> that I groan,p> <p class="poetry">yet there is no one to comfort me.p> <p class="poetry">All my enemies have heard of my trouble;p> <p class="poetry">they are glad that you<n id="2" /> have brought it about.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Bring about<n id="4" /> the day of judgment<n id="5" /> that you promised<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">so that<n id="7" /> they may end up<n id="8" /> like me!p>

<p class="bodytext">Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple.<n id="1" /> He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.