Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

Revised Standard Version

Original Electronic Text at the web site of the Bible Gateway, Gospel Communications Network.
Job

Chapter 1

1
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
2
There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3
He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
4
His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each on his day; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
5
And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.
6
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
7
The LORD said to Satan, "Whence have you come?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."
8
And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"
9
Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nought?
10
Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11
But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face."
12
And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
13
Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house;
14
and there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them;
15
and the Sabe'ans fell upon them and took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
16
While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
17
While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The Chalde'ans formed three companies, and made a raid upon the camels and took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
18
While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house;
19
and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
20
Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped.
21
And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
22
In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
Chapter 2

1
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.
2
And the LORD said to Satan, "Whence have you come?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."
3
And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause."
4
Then Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.
5
But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face."
6
And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power; only spare his life."
7
So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD, and afflicted Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8
And he took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
9
Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God, and die."
10
But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eli'phaz the Te'manite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Na'amathite. They made an appointment together to come to condole with him and comfort him.
12
And when they saw him from afar, they did not recognize him; and they raised their voices and wept; and they rent their robes and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.
13
And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Chapter 3

1
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2
And Job said:
3
"Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which said, 'A man-child is conceived.'
4
Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.
5
Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6
That night--let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
7
Yea, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it.
8
Let those curse it who curse the day, who are skilled to rouse up Levi'athan.
9
Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning;
10
because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11
"Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?
12
Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck?
13
For then I should have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then I should have been at rest,
14
with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
15
or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16
Or why was I not as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never see the light?
17
There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
18
There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
19
The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
20
"Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
21
who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22
who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they find the grave?
23
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom God has hedged in?
24
For my sighing comes as my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
25
For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
26
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes."
Chapter 4

1
Then Eli'phaz the Te'manite answered:
2
"If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? Yet who can keep from speaking?
3
Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.
4
Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.
5
But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6
Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7
"Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
8
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
9
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10
The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11
The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.
12
"Now a word was brought to me stealthily, my ear received the whisper of it.
13
Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14
dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
15
A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
16
It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:
17
'Can mortal man be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18
Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;
19
how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth.
20
Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish for ever without any regarding it.
21
If their tent-cord is plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?'
Chapter 38

1
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2
"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3
Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
4
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
5
Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
6
On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
7
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8
"Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb;
9
when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10
and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors,
11
and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?
12
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14
It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment.
15
From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
16
"Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17
Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
19
"Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
20
that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21
You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
22
"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23
which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
24
What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
25
"Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt,
26
to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man;
27
to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass?
28
"Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29
From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?
30
The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31
"Can you bind the chains of the Plei'ades, or loose the cords of Orion?
32
Can you lead forth the Maz'zaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
34
"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?
35
Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?
36
Who has put wisdom in the clouds, or given understanding to the mists?
37
Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38
when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cleave fast together?
39
"Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40
when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?
41
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
Chapter 42

1
Then Job answered the LORD:
2
"I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted.
3
'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4
'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.'
5
I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee;
6
therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
7
After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eli'phaz the Te'manite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
8
Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."
9
So Eli'phaz the Te'manite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Na'amathite went and did what the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
10
And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11
Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house; and they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.
12
And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.
13
He had also seven sons and three daughters.
14
And he called the name of the first Jemi'mah; and the name of the second Kezi'ah; and the name of the third Ker'en-hap'puch.
15
And in all the land there were no women so fair as Job's daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.
16
And after this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.
17
And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

Ecclesiastes

Chapter 1

1
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3
What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
4
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever.
5
The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
6
The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7
All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
8
All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.
10
Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already, in the ages before us.
11
There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen among those who come after.
12
I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13
And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with.
14
I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
15
What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.
16
I said to myself, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."
17
And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18
For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Chapter 2

1
I said to myself, "Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity.
2
I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?"
3
I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine--my mind still guiding me with wisdom--and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
4
I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself;
5
I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
6
I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.
7
I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.
8
I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, man's delight.
9
So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.
10
And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
11
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
12
So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what he has already done.
13
Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
14
The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I perceived that one fate comes to all of them.
15
Then I said to myself, "What befalls the fool will befall me also; why then have I been so very wise?" And I said to myself that this also is vanity.
16
For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise man dies just like the fool!
17
So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
18
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me;
19
and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
20
So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,
21
because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22
What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun?
23
For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.
24
There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;
25
for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
26
For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Chapter 3

1
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7
a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
9
What gain has the worker from his toil?
10
I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with.
11
He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man's mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
12
I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;
13
also that it is God's gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.
14
I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him.
15
That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
16
Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.
17
I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work.
18
I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men that God is testing them to show them that they are but beasts.
19
For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity.
20
All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21
Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth?
22
So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should enjoy his work, for that is his lot; who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Isaiah ("Second Isaiah") Chapter 53

1
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
8
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10
Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;
11
he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.
12
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Jeremiah

Chapter 1

1
The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilki'ah, of the priests who were in An'athoth in the land of Benjamin,
2
to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josi'ah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3
It came also in the days of Jehoi'akim the son of Josi'ah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedeki'ah, the son of Josi'ah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
4
Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,
5
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
6
Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth."
7
But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak.
8
Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."
9
Then the LORD put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
10
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
11
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see a rod of almond."
12
Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."
13
The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north."
14
Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
15
For, lo, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
16
And I will utter my judgments against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.
17
But you, gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.
18
And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.
19
They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you."

Chapter 7

1
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2
"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.
3
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place.
4
Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'
5
"For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly execute justice one with another,
6
if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt,
7
then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever.
8
"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.
9
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Ba'al, and go after other gods that you have not known,
10
and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!' --only to go on doing all these abominations?
11
Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, says the LORD.
12
Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
13
And now, because you have done all these things, says the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,
14
therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.
15
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of E'phraim.
16
"As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you.
17
Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18
The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
19
Is it I whom they provoke? says the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own confusion?
20
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched."
21
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.
22
For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
23
But this command I gave them, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'
24
But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
25
From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day;
26
yet they did not listen to me, or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
27
"So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
28
And you shall say to them, 'This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
29
Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'
30
"For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD; they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
31
And they have built the high place of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
32
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.
33
And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them away.
34
And I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.

Chapter 23

1
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says the LORD.
2
Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: "You have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD.
3
Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4
I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, says the LORD.
5
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6
In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'
7
"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when men shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'
8
but 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own land."
9
Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and because of his holy words.
10
For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right.
11
"Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their wickedness, says the LORD.
12
Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall; for I will bring evil upon them in the year of their punishment, says the LORD.
13
In the prophets of Sama'ria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Ba'al and led my people Israel astray.
14
But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomor'rah."
15
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and give them poisoned water to drink; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land."
16
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes; they speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
17
They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, 'It shall be well with you'; and to every one who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.'"
18
For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to perceive and to hear his word, or who has given heed to his word and listened?
19
Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20
The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
21
"I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
22
But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23
"Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24
Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.
25
I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!'
26
How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart,
27
who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams which they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Ba'al?
28
Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD.
29
Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces?
30
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words from one another.
31
Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their tongues and say, 'Says the LORD.'
32
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them; so they do not profit this people at all, says the LORD.
33
"When one of this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, 'What is the burden of the LORD?' you shall say to them, 'You are the burden, and I will cast you off, says the LORD.'
34
And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, 'The burden of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his household.
35
Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, 'What has the LORD answered?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?'
36
But 'the burden of the LORD' you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.
37
Thus you shall say to the prophet, 'What has the LORD answered you?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?'
38
But if you say, 'The burden of the LORD,' thus says the LORD, 'Because you have said these words, "The burden of the LORD," when I sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The burden of the LORD,'"
39
therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and cast you away from my presence, you and the city which I gave to you and your fathers.
40
And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.'"

Chapter 31

1
"At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people."
2
Thus says the LORD: "The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,
3
the LORD appeared to him from afar. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
4
Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with timbrels, and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
5
Again you shall plant vineyards upon the mountains of Sama'ria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit.
6
For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of E'phraim: 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.'"
7
For thus says the LORD: "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, 'The LORD has saved his people, the remnant of Israel.'
8
Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who is in travail, together; a great company, they shall return here.
9
With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and E'phraim is my first-born.
10
"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands afar off; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'
11
For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
12
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.
13
Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14
I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the LORD."
15
Thus says the LORD: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not."
16
Thus says the LORD: "Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17
There is hope for your future, says the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country.
18
I have heard E'phraim bemoaning, 'Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for thou art the LORD my God.
19
For after I had turned away I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'
20
Is E'phraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD.
21
"Set up waymarks for yourself, make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities.
22
How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman protects a man."
23
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: 'The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!'
24
And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.
25
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish."
26
Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
27
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
28
And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD.
29
In those days they shall no longer say: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'
30
But every one shall die for his own sin; each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
32
not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.
33
But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34
And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
35
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar--the LORD of hosts is his name:
36
"If this fixed order departs from before me, says the LORD, then shall the descendants of Israel cease from being a nation before me for ever."
37
Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the descendants of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD."
38
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the tower of Han'anel to the Corner Gate.
39
And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Go'ah.
40
The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown any more for ever."

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