and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. [1]
19 The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them : Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail? [2]
22 And if thou shalt say in thy heart, Why come these things upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels made bare. [3]
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. [4]
24 Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore will I uncover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.
27 I have seen thy adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy harlotry, and thy abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be ? [5]
CHAP. 14.
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. [6]
2 Judah mourneth, and her gates languish; they are black to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is parched, for there was no rain on the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
5 Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
6 And the wild donkeys stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed, because there was no grass.
7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
8 O the hope of Israel, his saviour in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why shouldest thou be as a man dismayed, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not. [7]
10 Thus saith the LORD to this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and punish their sins.
11 Then said the LORD to me, Pray not for this people for their good.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
13 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say to them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. [8]
14 Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I have not sent them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoken to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
15 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
17 Therefore thou shalt say this word to them; Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. [9]
19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul abhorred Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fa
- ↑ principalities: or, head tires
- ↑ punish: Heb visit upon
- ↑ made...: or, shall be violently taken away
- ↑ accustomed: Heb. taught
- ↑ when...: Heb. after when yet?
- ↑ the dearth: Heb. the words of the dearths, or, restraints
- ↑ we...: Heb. thy name is called upon us
- ↑ assured...: Heb. peace of truth
- ↑ go about...: or, make merchandise against a land, and men acknowledge it not
