22 But if they had been present in my privy council, Then would they have caused my people to hear my words, 23 And would have turned them from their evil way, Am I a God near at hand, saith JEHOVAH, 24 Can any one hide himself in secret places, Do not I fill? saith JEHOVAH. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said, That prophesy falsely in my name, Saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed; 26 How long shall the fire be in the heart? The prophets are prophets of falsehood, And prophets of the fraud of their own heart: 27 Who study to make my people forget my name through their dreams, Which they relate every one to his neighbour, Like as their fathers have forgotten my name through Baal. 28 The prophet who hath a dream, let him tell a dream; But he that hath my word, let him speak my What hath chaff to do with the wheat? saith 29 Is not the HOVAH; power of my word like fire? saith JE And like a hammer that breaketh a rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith JEHOVAH, That purloin my words, every one from his neighbour. 31 Behold I am against the prophets, saith JEHOVAH, That take their own tongue, and say, He hath said. 32 Behold I am against prophets of false dreams, saith JEHOVAH, 33 Who have also related them, and seduced my But I sent them not, nor commissioned them ; And when this people shall ask thee, Or a prophet, or a priest, saying, What is the burden of JEHOVAH? Then shalt thou say unto them, Ye are the burden, 34 And the prophet, and the priest, and the people, Which shall say, The burden of JEHOVAH, I will even punish that man and his house. 35 Thus shall ye speak every one to his neighbour, And every one to his brother, What hath JEHOVAH answered? And, What hath JEHOVAH Spoken? 36 But the burden of JEHOVAH shall ye mention no more: For the burden of every man shall be his own And ye have perverted the words of the living God, 37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, And, What hath JEHOVAH Spoken? 38 But if will ye say, The burden of JEHOVAH; For this cause thus saith JEHOVAH, Because ye say this word, The burden of JEHO VAH; Although I sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of JEHOVAH; 39 Therefore behold I will both take you up altogether, And I will cast you off, together with the city, Which I gave to you and your fathers, from out of my presence. 40 And I will bring upon you an everlasting reproach, And a perpetual disgrace, which shall not be forgotten. 2 4 CHAP. XXV. THE WORD WHICH CAME UNTO JEREMIAH CONCERNING ALL THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH, IN THE FOURTH YEAR OF JEHOIAKIM THE SON OF JOSIAH KING OF JUDAH (the SAME WAS THE FIRST YEAR OF NEBUCHADREZZAR KING OF BABYLON) WHICH Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants 3 of Jerusalem, saying, From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah even unto this day (this is the three and twentieth year) the word of JEHOVAH hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye have not hearkened: (Also JEHOVAH hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending, but ye have not hearkened 5 nor inclined your ear to hear) saying, Return, I pray you, every one from his evil way, and from the wickedness of your doings, and dwell ye in the land, which JEHOVAH gave to you and to 6 your fathers for ever and ever. And go not after strange gods to serve them, and to worship them; and provoke me not to anger with the work of 7 your hands; and I will not hurt you. But ye have not hearkened unto me, saith JEHOVAH, ON purpose to provoke me to anger with the work 8 of your hands, to your own hurt. Therefore 9 thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Because ye have not hearkened unto my words, behold, I am about to send, and will take all the families of the north, saith JEHOVAH, and Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon my servant, and bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual de10 solations. And I will cause to cease from them the voice of joy, and the voice of mirth, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of milstones, and the light of a 11 candle. And this whole land shall become a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy 12 years. And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, I will visit upon the king of Babylon, and upon his nation, saith JEHOVAH, their iniquity, and upon the land of Chaldea, 13 and I will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have spoken concerning it; all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied con14 cerning the nations. For of them, even of these, shall 'many nations and great kings exact service; and I will render to them according to their work, and according to the operation of their - hands. 15 Surely thus said JEHOVAH the God of Israel unto me, Take the cup of the wine of this wrath from my hand, and tender it to all the nations 16 to drink, unto whom I shall send thee; and let them drink, and stagger, and be out of their wits, because of the sword which I am about to 17 send among them; (So I took the cup at the hand of JEHOVAH, and tendered it to all the nations to drink, unto whom JEHOVAH had sent 18 me: To Jerusalem, and to the cities of Judah, and to the kings thereof, and to the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a curse, as at this 19 day To Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his servants, and to his princes, and to all his people, 20 and to all the intermingled people; And to all the kings of the land of Uz, and to all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and to Ashkelon, and to Gaza, and to Ekron, and to the remnant 21 of Ashdod; To Edom, and to Moab, and to the 22 children of Ammon; And to all the kings of Tyre, and to all the kings of Sidon, and to the kings of the region which is by the sea side; 23 And to Dedan, and to Tema, and to Buz, and to 24 all that have their coast insulated; And to all the kings of Arabia, and to all the kings of the mingled race of those that dwell in the desart; 25 And to all the kings of Zimri, and to all the kings of Elam, and to all the kings of Media; 26 And to all the kings of the north, those that are near, and those that are afar off, one with another, and to all the kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face of the ground) and the king 27 of Sheshach shall drink after them. And thou |