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Hebrew / JewishChristianity
My bely, my bely, I am pained, euen at the very heart: mine heart is troubled within me: I cannot be still: for my soule hath heard the sounde of the trumpet, and the alarme of the battell.
Destruction vpon destruction is cryed, for the whole lande is wasted: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtaines in a moment.
Howe long shall I see the standert, and heare the sounde of the trumpet?
For my people is foolish, they haue not knowen me: they are foolish children, and haue none vnderstanding: they are wise to doe euill, but to doe well they haue no knowledge.
I haue looked vpon the earth, and loe, it was without forme and voide: and to the heauens, and they had no light.
I behelde the mountaines: and loe, they trembled and all the hilles shooke.
I behelde, and loe, there was no man, and all the birdes of the heauen were departed.
I behelde, and loe, the fruitfull place was a wildernesse, and all the cities thereof were broken downe at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce wrath.
For thus hath the Lord saide, The whole lande shall be desolate: yet will I not make a full ende.
Therefore shall the earth mourne, and the heauens aboue shall be darkened, because I haue pronounced it: I haue thought it, and will not repent, neither will I turne backe from it.
The whole citie shall flee, for the noyse of the horsemen and bowemen: they shall goe into thickets, and clime vp vpon the rockes: euery citie shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
And when thou shalt be destroyed, what wilt thou doe? Though thou clothest thy selfe with skarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of golde, though thou paintest thy face with colours, yet shalt thou trimme thy selfe in vaine: for thy louers will abhorre thee and seeke thy life.
For I haue heard a noyse as of a woman trauailing, or as one labouring of her first child, euen the voyce of the daughter Zion that sigheth and stretcheth out her handes: woe is me nowe: for my soule fainteth because of the murtherers.
Run to and from by the streetes of Ierusalem, and beholde nowe, and knowe, and inquire in the open places thereof, if ye can finde a man, or if there be any that executeth iudgement, and seeketh the trueth, and I will spare it.
For though they say, The Lord liueth, yet doe they sweare falsely.
O Lord, are not thine eyes vpon the trueth? thou hast striken them, but they haue not sorowed: thou hast consumed them, but they haue refused to receiue correction: they haue made their faces harder then a stone, and haue refused to returne.
Therefore I saide, Surely they are poore, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the iudgement of their God.
I will get me vnto the great men, and will speake vnto them: for they haue knowen the way of the Lord, and the iudgement of their God: but these haue altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bondes.
Wherefore a lyon out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolfe of the wildernesse shall destroy them: a leopard shall watch ouer their cities: euery one that goeth out thence, shall be torne in pieces, because their trespasses are many, and their rebellions are increased.
Howe should I spare thee for this? thy children haue forsaken me, and sworne by them that are no gods: though I fed them to the full, yet they committed adulterie, and assembled them selues by companies in the harlots houses.
They rose vp in the morning like fed horses: for euery man neyed after his neighbours wife.
Shall I not visite for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this?
Clime vp vpon their walles, and destroy them, but make not a full ende: take away their batilments, for they are not the Lords.
For the house of Israel, and the house of Iudah haue grieuously trespassed against me, saith the Lord.
They haue denied the Lord, and saide, It is not he, neither shall the plague come vpon vs, neither shall we see sworde nor famine.
And the Prophetes shall be as winde, and the worde is not in them: thus shall it come vnto them.
Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hostes, Because ye speake such wordes, beholde, I will put my wordes into thy mouth, like a fire, and this people shall be as wood, and it shall deuoure them.
Loe, I will bring a nation vpon you from farre, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, which is a mightie nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither vnderstandest what they say.
Whose quiuer is as an open sepulchre: they are all very strong.
And they shall eate thine haruest and thy bread: they shall deuoure thy sonnes and thy daughters: they shall eate vp thy sheepe and thy bullocks: they shall eate thy vines and thy figge trees: they shall destroy with the sworde thy fenced cities, wherein thou didest trust.
Neuerthelesse at those dayes, sayth the Lord, I will not make a full ende of you.
And when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God doe these things vnto vs? then shalt thou answere them, Like as ye haue forsaken me and serued strange gods in your land, so shall ye serue strangers in a land that is not yours.
Declare this in the house of Iaakob, and publish it in Iudah, saying,
Heare nowe this, O foolish people, and without vnderstanding, which haue eyes and see not, which haue eares and heare not.
Feare ye not me, saith the Lord? or will ye not be afraide at my presence, which haue placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by the perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it, and though the waues thereof rage, yet can they not preuaile, though they roare, yet can they not passe ouer it?
But this people hath an vnfaithfull and rebellious heart: they are departed and gone.
For they say not in their heart, Let vs nowe feare the Lord our God, that giueth raine both early and late in due season: hee reserueth vnto vs the appointed weekes of the haruest.
Yet your iniquities haue turned away these things, and your sinnes haue hindred good things from you.
For among my people are founde wicked persons, that lay waite as hee that setteth snares: they haue made a pit, to catch men.
As a cage is full of birdes, so are their houses full of deceite: thereby they are become great and waxen riche.
They are waxen fat and shining: they doe ouerpasse the deedes of the wicked: they execute no iudgement, no not the iudgement of the fatherlesse: yet they prosper, though they execute no iudgement for the poore.
Shall I not visite for these things, sayth the Lord? or shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this?
An horrible and filthie thing is committed in the land.
The Prophets prophesie lies, and ye Priests receiue giftes in their handes, and my people delite therein. What will ye then doe in the ende thereof?
O ye children of Beniamin, prepare to flee out of the middes of Ierusalem, and blowe the trumpet in Tekoa: set vp a standart vpon Beth-haccerem: for a plague appeareth out of the North and great destruction.
I haue compared the daughter of Zion to a beautifull and daintie woman.
The pastors with their flockes shall come vnto her: they shall pitche their tentes rounde about by her, and euery one shall feede in his place.
Prepare warre against her: arise, and let vs goe vp toward the South: wo vnto vs: for the day declineth, and the shadowes of the euening are stretched out.
Arise, and let vs goe vp by night, and destroy her palaces.
For thus hath the Lord of hostes said, Hewe downe wood, and cast a mounte against Ierusalem: this citie must be visited: all oppression is in the middes of it.
As the fountaine casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her malice: crueltie and spoyle is continually heard in her before me with sorowe and strokes.
Be thou instructed, O Ierusalem, lest my soule depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate as a land, that none inhabiteth.
Thus sayeth the Lord of hostes, They shall gather as a vine, the residue of Israel: turne backe thine hande as the grape gatherer into the baskets.
Vnto whome shall I speake, and admonish that they may heare? beholde, their eares are vncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: beholde, the worde of the Lord is vnto them as a reproche: they haue no delite in it.
Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord: I am weary with holding it: I will powre it out vpon the children in the streete, and likewise vpon the assembly of the yong men: for the husband shall euen be taken with the wife, and the aged with him that is full of daies.
And their houses with their landes, and wiues also shalbe turned vnto strangers: for I will stretch out mine hande vpon the inhabitants of the land, sayeth the Lord.
For from the least of them, euen vnto the greatest of them, euery one is giuen vnto couetousnesse, and from the Prophet euen vnto the Priest, they all deale falsely.
They haue healed also ye hurt of the daughter of my people with sweete woordes, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not ashamed, no neither coulde they haue any shame: therefore they shall fall among the slaine: when I shall visite them, they shall be cast downe, sayth the Lord.
Thus sayeth the Lord, Stande in the waies and beholde, and aske for the olde way, which is the good way and walke therein, and yee shall finde rest for your soules: but they saide, We will not walke therein.
Also I set watchmen ouer you, which said, Take heede to the sound of the trumpet: but they said, We will not take heede.
Heare therefore, yee Gentiles, and thou Congregation knowe, what is among them.
Heare, O earth, beholde, I will cause a plague to come vpon this people, euen the fruite of their owne imaginations: because they haue not taken heede vnto my woordes, nor to my Lawe, but cast it off.
To what purpose bringest thou mee incense from Sheba, and sweete calamus from a farre countrey? Your burnt offerings are not pleasant, nor your sacrifices sweete vnto me.
Therefore thus sayeth the Lord, Beholde, I will laie stumbling blockes before this people, and the fathers and the sonnes together shall fall vpon them: the neighbour and his friende shall perish.
Thus sayeth the Lord, Beholde, a people commeth from the North countrey, and a great nation shall arise from the sides of the earth.
With bowe and shield shall they be weaponed: they are cruell and will haue no compassion: their voyce roareth like the sea, and they ride vpon horses, well appointed, like men of warre against thee, O daughter Zion.
We haue heard their fame, and our handes waxe feeble sorrowe is come vpon vs, as the sorrowe of a woman in trauaile.
Goe not foorth into the fielde, nor walke by the way: for the sword of the enemie and feare is on euery side.
O daughter of my people, girde thee with sackecloth, and wallowe thy selfe in the ashes: make lamentation, and bitter mourning as for thine onely sonne: for the destroier shall suddenly come vpon vs.
I haue set thee for a defence and fortresse among my people, that thou maiest knowe and trie their waies.
They are all rebellious traitours, walking craftily: they are brasse, and yron, they all are destroyers.
The bellowes are burnt: the lead is consumed in the fire: the founder melteth in vaine: for the wicked are not taken away.
They shall call them reprobate siluer, because the Lord hath reiected them.
The woordes that came to Ieremiah from the Lord, saying,
Stand in the gate of the Lordes house and crie this woorde there, and say, Heare the woorde of the Lord, all yee of Iudah that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.
Thus sayeth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Amend your waies and your woorkes, and I will let you dwell in this place.
Trust not in lying woordes, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord: this is the Temple of the Lord.
For if you amende and redresse your waies and your woorkes: if you execute iudgement betweene a man and his neighbour,
And oppresse not the stranger, the fatherlesse and the widow and shed no innocent blood in this place, neither walke after other gods to your destruction,
Then will I let you dwell in this place in the lande that I gaue vnto your fathers, for euer and euer.
Beholde, you trust in lying woordes, that can not profite.
Will you steale, murder, and commit adulterie, and sweare falsely and burne incense vnto Baal, and walke after other gods whome yee knowe not?
And come and stande before mee in this House, whereupon my Name is called, and saye, We are deliuered, though we haue done all these abominations?
Is this House become a denne of theeues, whereupon my Name is called before your eyes? Beholde, euen I see it, sayeth the Lord.
But go ye nowe vnto my place which was in Shilo, where I set my Name at the beginning, and beholde, what I did to it for the wickednesse of my people Israel.
Therefore nowe because yee haue done all these woorkes, sayeth the Lord, (and I rose vp earely and spake vnto you: but when I spake, yee would not heare me, neither when I called, would yee answere).
Therefore will I do vnto this House, wherupon my Name is called, wherein also yee trust, euen vnto the place that I gaue to you and to your fathers, as I haue done vnto Shilo.
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I haue cast out all your brethren, euen the whole seede of Ephraim.
Therfore thou shalt not pray for this people, neither lift vp crie or praier for them neither intreat me, for I will not heare thee.
Seest thou not what they doe in the cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Ierusalem?
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knede the dough to make cakes to the Queene of heauen and to powre out drinke offrings vnto other gods, that they may prouoke me vnto anger.
Doe they prouoke me to anger, sayeth the Lord, and not themselues to the confusion of their owne faces?
Therefore thus sayeth the Lord God, Beholde, mine anger and my wrath shall be powred vpon this place, vpon man and vpon beast, and vpon the tree of the fielde, and vpon the fruite of the grounde, and it shall burne and not bee quenched.
Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Put your burnt offerings vnto your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.
For I spake not vnto your fathers, nor commanded them, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offrings and sacrifices.
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voyce, and I will be your God, and yee shalbe my people: and walke yee in all the wayes which I haue commanded you, that it may be well vnto you.
But they would not obey, nor incline their eare, but went after the counsels and the stubbernesse of their wicked heart, and went backewarde and not forwarde.
Since the day that your fathers came vp out of the lande of Egypt, vnto this day, I haue euen sent vnto you al my seruants the Prophets, rising vp earely euery day, and sending them.
Yet would they not heare me nor encline their eare, but hardened their necke and did worse then their fathers.