Study Desk

So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle.

So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord , when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another's flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.'

Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.

"Inquire now of the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us."

He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.' So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.

"Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.

He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the Lord .

"So then, the days are coming," declares the Lord , "when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,'

And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah."

Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?" declares the Lord . "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the Lord .

But you must not mention ‘a message from the Lord ' again, because each one's word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.

One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

Then the Lord asked me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" "Figs," I answered. "The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten."

"‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,' says the Lord , ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt.

So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem:

So I took the cup from the Lord 's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it:

"Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!"

Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.