Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors
I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4Trust ye not in lying words, saying: 'The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these.' 5Nay, but if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour; 6if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt; 7then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. 8Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. 9Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye have not known, 10and come and stand before Me in this house, whereupon My name is called, and say: 'We are delivered', that ye may do all these abominations? 11Is this house, whereupon My name is called, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith the Lord. 12For go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. 13And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spoke unto you, speaking betimes and often, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not; 14therefore will I do unto the house, whereupon My name is called, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear thee. 17Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me. 19Do they provoke Me? saith the Lord; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? 20Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, Mine anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the land; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
21Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh. 22For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices; 23but this thing I commanded them, saying: 'Hearken unto My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' 24But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels, even in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward, 25even since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day; and though I have sent unto you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily betimes and often, 26yet they hearkened not unto Me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff; they did worse than their fathers.
27And thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee; thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee. 28Therefore thou shalt say unto them:
This is the nation that hath not hearkenedTo the voice of the Lord their God,Nor received correction;Faithfulness is perished,And is cut off from their mouth.
29Cut off thy hair, and cast it away,And take up a lamentation on the high hills;For the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.
30For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight, saith the Lord; they have set their detestable things in the house whereon My name is called, to defile it. 31And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into My mind. 32Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in Topheth, for lack of room. 33And the carcasses of this people shall be food for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away. 34Then will I cause 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 be desolate. 81At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves; 2and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped; they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. 3And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.
4Moreover thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith the Lord:
Do men fall, and not rise up again?Doth one turn away, and not return?5Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden backBy a perpetual backsliding?They hold fast deceit,They refuse to return.6I attended and listened,But they spoke not aright;No man repenteth him of his wickedness,Saying: 'What have I done?'Every one turneth away in his course,As a horse that rusheth headlong in the battle.7Yea, the stork in the heavenKnoweth her appointed times;And the turtle and the swallow and the craneObserve the time of their coming;But My people know notThe ordinance of the Lord.8How do ye say: 'We are wise,And the Law of the Lord is with us'?Lo, certainly in vain hath wroughtThe vain pen of the scribes.9The wise men are ashamed,They are dismayed and taken;Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord;And what wisdom is in them? 10Therefore will I give their wives unto others,And their fields to them that shall possess them;For from the least even unto the greatestEvery one is greedy for gain,From the prophet even unto the priestEvery one dealeth falsely.11And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people lightly,Saying: 'Peace, peace', when there is no peace.12They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination;Yea, they are not at all ashamed,Neither know they how to blush;Therefore shall they fall among them that fall,In the time of their visitation they shall stumble,Saith the Lord. 13I will utterly consume them, saith the Lord;There are no grapes on the vine,Nor figs on the fig-tree,And the leaf is faded;And I gave them that which they transgress.14'Why do we sit still?Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities,And let us be cut off there;For the Lord our God hath cut us off,And given us water of gall to drink,Because we have sinned against the Lord.15We looked for peace, but no good came;And for a time of healing, and behold terror! '16The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan;At the sound of the neighing of his strong onesThe whole land trembleth;For they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it,The city and those that dwell therein.17For, behold, I will send serpents, basilisks, among you,Which will not be charmed;And they shall bite you, saith the Lord. 18Though I would take comfort against sorrow,My heart is faint within me.19Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my peopleFrom a land far off:'Is not the Lord in Zion?Is not her King in her?'—'Why have they provoked Me with their graven images,And with strange vanities?'—20'The harvest is past, the summer is ended,And we are not saved.'21For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I seized with anguish;I am black, appalment hath taken hold on me.22Is there no balm in Gilead?Is there no physician there?Why then is not the healthOf the daughter of my people recovered?23Oh that my head were waters,And mine eyes a fountain of tears,That I might weep day and nightFor the slain of the daughter of my people! 9Oh that I were in the wilderness,In a lodging-place of wayfaring men,That I might leave my people,And go from them!For they are all adulterers,An assembly of treacherous men.2And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood;And they are grown mighty in the land, but not for truth;For they proceed from evil to evil,And Me they know not,Saith the Lord.3Take ye heed every one of his neighbour,And trust ye