For whenever I prophesy, ¹  I must cry out, ²  “Violence and destruction are coming!” ³  This message from the Lord ⁴  has made me an object of continual insults and derision.

I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹  That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. ² 

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians. ¹  The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.” ² 

I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over ¹  again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate. ² 

For I solemnly swear,” ¹  says the Lord, “that Bozrah ²  will become a pile of ruins. It will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ³  All the towns around it will lie in ruins forever.”

י (Yod) The elders of Daughter Zion sit ¹  on the ground in silence. ²  They have thrown dirt on their heads; They have dressed in sackcloth. ³  Jerusalem’s young women ⁴  stare down at the ground. ⁵ 

Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. ¹ 

“Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me.

When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, ¹  I ²  was disgusted with her, just as I ³  had been disgusted with her sister.

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment ¹  on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds!

For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced with intense scorn ¹  over the land of Israel,

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines ¹  have exacted merciless revenge, ²  showing intense scorn ³  in their effort to destroy Judah ⁴  with unrelenting hostility. ⁵ 

“‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ¹  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ²  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

“Meshech-Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave. ¹  All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living.

I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

Then you will remember your evil behavior ¹  and your deeds which were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds.

“As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins and measure the pattern.

The company of priests is like a gang of robbers, lying in ambush to pounce on a victim. They commit murder on the road to Shechem; they have done heinous crimes!

Even if they raise their children, I will take away every last one of them. ¹  Woe to them! For I will turn away from them.