¹ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

² `And thou, son of man, dost thou judge? dost thou judge the city of blood? then thou hast caused it to know all its abominations,

³ and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: The city is shedding blood in its midst, For the coming in of its time, And it hath made idols on it for defilement.

⁴ By thy blood that thou hast shed thou hast been guilty, And by thine idols that thou hast made thou hast been defiled, And thou causest thy days to draw near, And art come in unto thine years, Therefore I have given thee a reproach to nations, And a derision to all the lands.

⁵ The near and the far-off from thee scoff at thee, O defiled of name -- abounding in trouble.

⁶ Lo, princes of Israel -- each according to his arm Have been in thee to shed blood.

⁷ Father and mother made light of in thee, To a sojourner they dealt oppressively in thy midst, Fatherless and widow they oppressed in thee.

⁸ My holy things thou hast despised, And My sabbaths thou hast polluted.

⁹ Men of slander have been in thee to shed blood, And on the mountains they have eaten in thee, Wickedness they have done in thy midst.

¹⁰ The nakedness of a father hath one uncovered in thee, The defiled of impurity they humbled in thee.

¹¹ And each with the wife of his neighbour hath done abomination, And each his daughter-in-law hath defiled through wickedness, And each his sister, his father's daughter, hath humbled in thee.

¹² A bribe they have taken in thee to shed blood, Usury and increase thou hast taken, And cuttest off thy neighbour by oppression, And Me thou hast forgotten, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!

¹³ And lo, I have smitten My hand, Because of thy dishonest gain that thou hast gained, And for thy blood that hath been in thy midst.

¹⁴ Doth thy heart stand -- are thy hands strong, For the days that I am dealing with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done [it].

¹⁵ And I have scattered thee among nations, And have spread thee out among lands, And consumed thy uncleanness out of thee.

¹⁶ And thou hast been polluted in thyself Before the eyes of nations, And thou hast known that I [am] Jehovah.'

¹⁷ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man,

¹⁸ The house of Israel hath been to Me for dross, All of them [are] brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, In the midst of a furnace -- dross hath silver been,

¹⁹ Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your all becoming dross, Therefore, lo, I am gathering you unto the midst of Jerusalem,

²⁰ A gathering of silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, Unto the midst of a furnace -- to blow on it fire, to melt it, So do I gather in Mine anger and in My fury, And I have let rest, and have melted you.

²¹ And I have heaped you up, And blown on you in the fire of My wrath, And ye have been melted in its midst.

²² As the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, So are ye melted in its midst, And ye have known that I, Jehovah, I have poured out My fury upon you.'

²³ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

²⁴ `Son of man, say to it, Thou [art] a land, It [is] not cleansed nor rained on in a day of indignation.

²⁵ A conspiracy of its prophets [is] in its midst, as a roaring lion tearing prey; The soul they have devoured, Wealth and glory they have taken, Its widows have multiplied in its midst.

²⁶ Its priests have wronged My law, And they pollute My holy things, Between holy and common they have not made separation, And Between the unclean and the clean they have not made known, And from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, And I am pierced in their midst.

²⁷ Its princes in its midst [are] as wolves, Tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, For the sake of gaining dishonest gain.

²⁸ And its prophets have daubed for them with chalk, Seeing a vain thing, and divining for them a lie, Saying, `Thus said the Lord Jehovah:' And Jehovah hath not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression, And have taken plunder violently away, And humble and needy have oppressed, And the sojourner oppressed -- without judgment.

³⁰ And I seek of them a man making a fence, And standing in the breach before Me, In behalf of the land -- not to destroy it, And I have not found.

³¹ And I pour out on them mine indignation, By fire of My wrath I have consumed them, Their way on their own head I have put, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

¹ The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying:

² `Hear ye the words of this covenant, and ye have spoken unto the men of Judah, and unto the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

³ and thou hast said unto them, Thus said Jehovah God of Israel: Cursed [is] the man who doth not obey the words of this covenant,

⁴ That I commanded your fathers, In the day of My bringing them out from the land of Egypt, Out of the iron furnace, saying, Hearken to My voice, and ye have done them, According to all that I command you, And ye have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God,

⁵ In order to establish the oath that I have sworn to your fathers, To give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, as this day. And I answer and say, `Amen, O Jehovah.'

⁶ And Jehovah saith unto me, `Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of this covenant, And ye have done them.

⁷ For I certainly testified against your fathers, In the day of My bringing them up out of the land of Egypt -- till this day, Rising early and testifying, saying, Hearken to My voice,

⁸ And they have not hearkened nor inclined their ear, And they walk each in the stubbornness of their evil heart, And I bring on them all the words of this covenant, That I commanded to do, and they did not.'

⁹ And Jehovah saith unto me: `A conspiracy is found in the men of Judah, And in the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ They have turned back to the iniquities of their first fathers, Who refused to hear My words, And they have gone after other gods to serve them, The house of Israel, and the house of Judah, Have made void My covenant, that I made with their fathers.

¹¹ Therefore thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am bringing in unto them evil, That they are not able to go out from, And they have cried unto Me, And I do not hearken unto them.

¹² And the cities of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem have gone, And they have cried unto the gods, To whom they are making perfume, And they give no deliverance at all to them, In the time of their vexation.

¹³ For -- the number of thy cities have been thy gods, O Judah, And -- the number of the streets of Jerusalem Ye have placed altars to a shameful thing, altars to make perfume to Baal.

¹⁴ And thou, thou dost not pray for this people, Nor dost thou lift up for them cry and prayer, For I do not hearken in the time of their calling unto Me for their vexation.

¹⁵ What -- to My beloved in My house, Her doing wickedness with many, And the holy flesh do pass over from thee? When thou dost evil, then thou exultest.

¹⁶ `An olive, green, fair, of goodly fruit,' Hath Jehovah called thy name, At the noise of a great tumult He hath kindled fire against it, And broken have been its thin branches.

¹⁷ And Jehovah of Hosts, who is planting thee, Hath spoken evil concerning thee, For the evil of the house of Israel, and of the house of Judah, That they have done to themselves, To provoke Me to anger, to make perfume to Baal.

¹⁸ And, O Jehovah, cause me to know, and I know, Then Thou hast showed me their doings.

¹⁹ And I [am] as a trained lamb brought to slaughter, And I have not known That against me they have devised devices: We destroy the tree with its food, and cut him off From the land of the living, And his name is not remembered again.

²⁰ And O Jehovah of Hosts, judging righteousness, Trying reins and heart, I do see Thy vengeance against them, For unto Thee I have revealed my cause.'

²¹ Therefore, thus said Jehovah concerning the men of Anathoth, who are seeking thy life, saying: Do not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, And thou dost not die by our hands.

²² Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts: `Lo, I am seeing after them, The chosen ones die by sword, Their sons and their daughters die by famine,

²³ And they have no remnant, For I bring evil unto the men of Anathoth, The year of their inspection!'