Poetry of the Prophets - Part II: The Prophet of Doom

(1) The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anatot in the territory of Benjamin. (2) The word of the Lord came to him in the days of King Yoshiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign, (3) and throughout the days of King Yehoyakim son of Yoshiah of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu son of Yoshiah of Judah, when Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month.

(4) The word of the Lord came to me and said:

(5) Before I formed you in the belly,

I knew you;

Before you came forth from the womb,

I consecrated you;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

(6) I replied:

Ah, Lord God!

I don’t know how to speak,

For I am still a child.

(7) And the Eternal said to me:

Do not say, “I am still a child,”

But go wherever I send you

And speak whatever I command you.

(8) Have no fear of them,

For I am with you to deliver you — declares the Lord.

(9) The Lord put out a hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: Behold, I put My words into your mouth (10) See, I appoint you this day over nations and kingdoms:

To uproot and to pull down,

To destroy and to overthrow,

To build and to plant.

(1) Roam the streets of Jerusalem,

Search its squares,

Look about and take note:

See if you can find one man,

There is none who acts justly,

Who seeks faith —

That I should pardon her.

(2) If they say, “As the Lord lives,”

They are sure to be swearing falsely.

(3) O Lord, Your eyes look for faith.

You struck them, but they sensed no pain;

You consumed them, but they would take no discipline.

They made their faces harder than stone, They refused to turn back.

(4) But then I thought:

These are just poor folk;

They act foolishly;

For they do not know the way of the Lord, The rules of their God.

(10) To whom shall I speak,

Give warning that they may hear?

See, their ears are blocked and they cannot listen.

See, the word of the Lord has become for them an object of scorn;

They will have none of it.

(11) But I am filled with the wrath of the Lord - I cannot hold it in!

Pour it on the kids in the streets,

And on teenagers in their secret gatherings!

Yes, men and women alike shall be captured,

Elders and those in the fullness of their lives.

(12) Their houses shall pass to others, Fields and wives as well,

For I will stretch out My arm

Against the inhabitants of the country —declares the Eternal.

(13) For from the smallest to the greatest, They are all greedy for gain;

Priest and prophet alike,

They all act falsely.

(14) They offer healing so easily

For the wounds of My people,

Saying, “All is well, all is well,”

When nothing is well.

(15) They have acted shamefully;

They have done abhorrent things—

Yet they do not feel shame,

And they cannot be made to blush. Assuredly, they shall fall among the falling,

When I come to take account of them, they will fail — said the Lord.

(1) You will win, O Lord, if I make claim against You,

Yet I shall present charges against You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are the workers of treachery at ease?

(2) You have planted them, and they have taken root,

They spread, they even bear fruit.

You are present in their mouths,

But far from their inner thoughts.

(3) Yet You, O Lord have known and observed me;

You have tested my heart, and found it with You.

Drive them out like sheep to the slaughter, Prepare them for the day of killing!

(4) How long must the land languish,

And the grass of all the countryside dry up?

Must beasts and birds perish,

Because of the evil of its inhabitants,

Who say, “God will not look upon our ways”?

(7) You enticed me, O Lord, and I was enticed;

You overpowered me and You prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all day long,

Everyone jeers at me.

(8) For every time I speak, I must cry out, Must shout, “Violence and theft!”

For the word of the Lord causes me disgrace and contempt all day long.

(9) I thought, “I will not mention God,

No more will I speak in God name”—

But it was like a fire raging in my heart,

Shut up in my bones;

I could not hold it in, I was helpless.

(10) I heard the whispers of the crowd— Terror all around:

“Inform! Let us inform against him!”

All my friends are waiting for me to stumble:

“Perhaps he can be entrapped,

And we can prevail against him

And take our vengeance on him.”

(11) But the Lord is upon me like a warrior;

Therefore my persecutors shall stumble; They shall not prevail and shall not succeed.

They shall be utterly shamed

With an eternal humiliation,

Which shall not be forgotten.

(12) O Lord of Hosts,

Who test the righteous,

Who examines the heart and the mind,

Let me see Your retribution upon them,

For I lay my case before You.

(13) Sing unto the Lord,

Praise the Lord,

For God has rescued the needy

From the hands of evildoers!

(14) Cursed be the day that I was born!

The day mother bore me - let it not be blesseed!

(15) Cursed be the man who brought my father the news and said,

“A boy is born to you,”

And gave him such joy!

(16) Let that man become like the cities Which the Lord overthrew without relenting!

Let him hear shrieks in the morning

And the sound of the alarm at noon —

(17) Because he did not kill me before birth So that my mother might be my grave,

Her womb pregnant for all time.

(10) Thus said the Lord: Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is ruined, without man or beast—in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man, without inhabitants, without beast— (11) the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of groom and bride, the voice of those who cry, “Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, God's kindness is everlasting!” as they bring thanksgiving offerings to the House of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as of old—said the Lord.