The Hebrew Prophets

Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.

Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD. “Or will I who deliver close the womb?” says your God.

Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,

so that you may nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you may drink deeply and delight yourselves in her glorious abundance.

For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flowing stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm, and bounced upon her knees.

As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

When you see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants, but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.

For behold, the LORD will come with fire— His chariots are like a whirlwind— to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.

For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.

“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.

“And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.

I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.

And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”

“And I will select some of them as priests and Levites,” says the LORD.

“For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “so your descendants and your name will endure.

From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.

“As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”

These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,

and through the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

The word of the LORD came to me, saying:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!”

But the LORD told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak.

Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.