Study Desk

Therefore thus says the Lord , the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord .

But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a more shocking thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from wickedness; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.

For who has stood in the council of the Lord so as to see and to hear his word? Who has given heed to his word so as to proclaim it?

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

See, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord , and who tell them, and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or appoint them; so they do not profit this people at all, says the Lord .

But "the burden of the Lord " you shall mention no more, for the burden is everyone's own word, and so you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.

One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.

And the Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."

Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

But thus says the Lord : Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt.

Yet you did not listen to me, says the Lord , and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

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

But the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over into the hands of the people to be put to death.

and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord , and all the exiles.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they shall indeed serve him; I have even given him the wild animals.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am going to let loose on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.

The Lord himself has made you priest instead of the priest Jehoiada, so that there may be officers in the house of the Lord to control any madman who plays the prophet, to put him in the stocks and the collar.

So now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who plays the prophet for you?

Alas! that day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be rescued from it.

All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are so numerous.