¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from Yahweh, saying,

² Thus says Yahweh: Stand in the court of Yahweh's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them; don't diminish a word.

³ It may be they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings.

⁴ You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

⁵ to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened;

⁶ then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

⁷ The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh.

⁸ It happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, You shall surely die.

⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? All the people were gathered to Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh.

¹⁰ When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of Yahweh; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Yahweh's [house].

¹¹ Then spoke the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.

¹² Then spoke Jeremiah to all the princes and to all the people, saying, Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

¹³ Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God; and Yahweh will repent him of the evil that he has pronounced against you.

¹⁴ But as for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as is good and right in your eyes.

¹⁵ Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for of a truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.

¹⁶ Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God.

¹⁷ Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

¹⁸ Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn't he fear Yahweh, and entreat the favor of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? Thus should we commit great evil against our own souls.

²⁰ There was also a man who prophesied in the name of Yahweh, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

²¹ and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt:

²² and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, [namely], Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt;

²³ and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

²⁴ But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

¹ Of Moab. Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is disappointed, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and broken down.

² The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, Madmen, shall be brought to silence: the sword shall pursue you.

³ The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction!

⁴ Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

⁵ For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

⁶ Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.

⁷ For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also shall be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

⁸ The destroyer shall come on every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as Yahweh has spoken.

⁹ Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.

¹⁰ Cursed is he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.

¹¹ Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.

¹² Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will send to him those who pour off, and they shall pour him off; and they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces.

¹³ Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.

¹⁴ How do you say, We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war?

¹⁵ Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.

¹⁶ The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast.

¹⁷ All you who are around him, bemoan him, and all you who know his name; say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod!

¹⁸ You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹ Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch: ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, What has been done?

²⁰ Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.

²¹ Judgment is come on the plain country, on Holon, and on Jahzah, and on Mephaath,

²² and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth Diblathaim,

²³ and on Kiriathaim, and on Beth Gamul, and on Beth Meon,

²⁴ and on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

²⁵ The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says Yahweh.

²⁶ Make him drunken; for he magnified himself against Yahweh: and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

²⁷ For wasn't Israel a derision to you? was he found among thieves? for as often as you speak of him, you shake your head.

²⁸ You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.

²⁹ We have heard of the pride of Moab, [that] he is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰ I know his wrath, says Yahweh, that it is nothing; his boastings have worked nothing.

³¹ Therefore will I wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir Heres shall they mourn.

³² With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you, vine of Sibmah: your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: on your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer is fallen.

³³ Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses: none shall tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting.

³⁴ From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate.

³⁵ Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Yahweh, him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods.

³⁶ Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres: therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished.

³⁷ For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the waist sackcloth.

³⁸ On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which none delights, says Yahweh.

³⁹ How is it broken down! [how] do they wail! how has Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.

⁴⁰ For thus says Yahweh: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹ Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

⁴² Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Yahweh.

⁴³ Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you, inhabitant of Moab, says Yahweh.

⁴⁴ He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation, says Yahweh.

⁴⁵ Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.

⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab! the people of Chemosh is undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷ Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.