God

Say: 'Hear the word of ADONAI, kings of Y'hudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim! This is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: "I am about to bring disaster on this place that will make the ears of whoever hears about it ring.

This is because they have abandoned me and alienated this place. In it they have offered to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors have known, nor the kings of Y'hudah. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people.

They have built the high places of Ba'al, in order to burn up their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Ba'al - something I never ordered or said; it never even entered my mind.

"'"Therefore the time is coming," says ADONAI, "when this place will no longer be called either Tofet or the Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter.

I will nullify the plans of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim in this place. I will have them fall by the sword before their enemies and at the hand of those seeking their lives, and I will give their corpses as food for the birds in the air and the wild animals.

I will make this city an object of horror and ridicule; everyone passing by will be horrified and will ridicule it because of all its wounds.

I will cause them to eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters; everyone will be eating the flesh of his friends during the siege, because of the shortage imposed on them by their enemies and those set on killing them."'

and say to them, 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot says that this is how I will break this people and this city, just as one smashes a potter's vessel beyond the possibility of repair. The dead will be buried in Tofet, because there will be no space left for burial [anywhere else].

That is what I will do to this place,' says ADONAI 'and to its inhabitants; I will make it like Tofet.

Then Yirmeyahu returned from Tofet, where ADONAI had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of ADONAI's house and said to all the people,

"This is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I am bringing on this city and all its surrounding villages all the disaster I have pronounced against it; because they have stiffened their necks and refused to pay attention to my words.'"

Now when the cohen Pash'chur son of Immer, chief official in the house of ADONAI, heard Yirmeyahu prophesying these things,

he had him flogged and put him in the stocks at the Upper Binyamin Gate of the house of ADONAI.

The following morning, when Pash'chur led Yirmeyahu out of the stocks, Yirmeyahu said to him, "ADONAI no longer calls you Pash'chur but Magor-Missaviv [terror on every side].

For this is what ADONAI says: 'I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, while you watch. I will hand over all of Y'hudah to the king of Bavel, and he will carry them off captive to Bavel and put them to the sword.

Moreover, I will hand over everything stored in this city, all its valuables, all its wealth, indeed all the treasures of the kings of Y'hudah, to their enemies, who will plunder them, take them and carry them to Bavel.

You fooled me, ADONAI; I have been your dupe. You overpowered me, and you have prevailed. All day long I'm a laughingstock; everyone makes fun of me.

Whenever I speak, I have to cry out; I shout, "Violence!" and "Destruction!" Thus the word of ADONAI becomes for me the cause of reproach and derision all day!

But if I say, "I won't think about him, I won't speak in his name any more," then it seems as though a fire is burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I wear myself out trying to hold it in, but I just can't do it.

But ADONAI is with me like a dreaded warrior; so my persecutors will stumble, defeated, greatly ashamed because of their failure; their lasting disgrace will not be forgotten.

ADONAI-Tzva'ot, you who test the righteous and see people's hearts and thoughts, let me see you take vengeance on them, for I have committed my cause to you.

Sing to ADONAI! Praise ADONAI! For he rescues those in need from the clutches of evildoers.

Let that man be like the cities ADONAI overthrew without mercy! Let him hear cries of alarm in the morning and the sound of battle at noon,

This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI when King Tzidkiyahu sent to him Pash'chur the son of Malkiyah and Tz'fanyah the son of Ma'aseiyah with this message:

"Please consult ADONAI for us, because N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel is making war on us. Maybe ADONAI will perform a miracle for us and cause him to withdraw."