Jeremiah 17

1 And which came to him in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, unto the end of the eleventh year of Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda, even unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive, in the fifth month. 2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 3 Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations. 4 And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. 5 And the Lord said to me: Say not: I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee: and whatsoever I shall command thee, thou shalt speak. 6 Be not afraid at their presence: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. 7 And the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth: and the Lord said to me: Behold I have given my words in thy mouth: 8 Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant. 9 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said: I see a rod watching. 10 And the Lord said to me: Thou hast seen well: for I will watch over my word to perform it. 11 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time saying: What seest thou? And I said: I see a boiling caldron, and the face thereof from the face of the north. 12 And the Lord said to me: From the north shall an evil break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. 13 For behold I will call together all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord: and they shall come, and shall set every one his throne in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all the walls thereof round about, and upon all the cities of Juda. 14 And I will pronounce my judgments against them, touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, and have adored the work of their own hands. 15 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee. Be not afraid at their presence: for I will make thee not to fear their countenance. 16 For behold I have made thee this day a fortified city, and a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass, over all the land, to the kings of Juda, to the princes thereof, and to the priests, and to the people of the land. 17 And they shall fight against them, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee. 19 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 20 Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: I have remembered thee, pitying thy youth, and the love of thy espousals, when thou followedst me in the desert, in a land that is not sown. 21 Israel is holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his increase: all they that devour him offend: evils shall come upon them, saith the Lord. 22 Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all ye families of the house of Israel: 23 Thus saith the Lord: What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 24 And they have not said: Where is the Lord, that made us come up out of the land of Egypt? that led us through the desert, through a land uninhabited and unpassable, through a land of drought, and the image of death, through a land wherein no man walked, nor any man dwelt? 25 And I brought you into the land of Carmel, to eat the fruit thereof, and the best things thereof: and when ye entered in, you defiled my land and made my inheritance an abomination. 26 The priests did not say: Where is the Lord? and they that held the law knew me not, and the pastors transgressed against me: and the prophets prophesied in Baal, and followed idols. 27 Therefore will I yet contend in judgment with you, saith the Lord, and I will plead with your children.