Lexicon :: Strong's H4100 - mâ

Then the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah? ”

I replied, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

Again the word of the LORD came to me asking, “What do you see? ”

And I replied, “I see a boiling pot, its lip tilted from the north to the south.”

This is what the LORD says:

What fault did your ancestors find in me

that they went so far from me,

followed worthless idols,

and became worthless themselves?

Now what will you gain

by traveling along the way to Egypt

to drink the water of the Nile?[fn]

What will you gain

by traveling along the way to Assyria

to drink the water of the Euphrates?

How can you protest, “I am not defiled;

I have not followed the Baals”?

Look at your behavior in the valley;

acknowledge what you have done.

You are a swift young camel

twisting and turning on her way,

Why do you bring a case against me?

All of you have rebelled against me.

This is the LORD’s declaration.

How skillfully you pursue love;

you also teach evil women your ways.

How unstable you are,

constantly changing your ways!

You will be put to shame by Egypt

just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

And you, devastated one, what are you doing

that you dress yourself in scarlet,

that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,

that you enhance your eyes with makeup?

You beautify yourself for nothing.

Your lovers reject you;

they intend to take your life.

I am about to bring a nation

from far away against you,

house of Israel.

This is the LORD’s declaration.

It is an established nation,

an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know

and whose speech you do not understand.

“When people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us? ’ You will respond to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ 

“The prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule by their own authority.

My people love it like this.

But what will you do at the end of it?

What use to me is frankincense from Sheba

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;

your sacrifices do not please me.

“Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

“I have paid careful attention.

They do not speak what is right.

No one regrets his evil,

asking, ‘What have I done? ’

Everyone has stayed his course

like a horse rushing into battle.

“The wise will be put to shame;

they will be dismayed and snared.

They have rejected the word of the LORD,

so what wisdom do they really have?

Why are we just sitting here?

Gather together; let’s enter the fortified cities

and perish there,[fn]

for the LORD our God has destroyed[fn] us.

He has given us poisoned water to drink,

because we have sinned against the LORD.

Who is the person wise enough to understand this? Who has the LORD spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

“What right does my beloved have

to be in my house,

having carried out so many evil schemes?

Can holy meat[fn] prevent your disaster[fn]

so you can celebrate?

What will you say when he appoints

close friends as leaders over you,

ones you yourself trained?

Won’t labor pains seize you,

as they do a woman in labor?

Hope of Israel,

its Savior in time of distress,

why are you like a resident alien in the land,

like a traveler stopping only for the night?

Why has my pain become unending,

my wound incurable,

refusing to be healed?

You truly have become like a mirage to me —

water that is not reliable.

“When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the LORD declared all this terrible disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? ’

Why did I come out of the womb

to see only struggle and sorrow,

to end my life in shame?

“Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the LORD do such a thing to this great city? ’

You residents of Lebanon,

nestled among the cedars,

how you will groan[fn] when pains come on you,

agony like a woman in labor.

“The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has my word should speak my word truthfully, for what is straw compared to grain? ” ​— ​this is the LORD’s declaration.

“Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden[fn] of the LORD? ’ you will respond to them, ‘What is the burden? I will throw you away! This is the LORD’s declaration.’

“This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has the LORD answered? ’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken? ’

“Say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you? ’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken? ’

The LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah? ”

I said, “Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible.”

“Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, and plague as the LORD has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin?

“So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who has been acting like a prophet among you?

Why do you cry out about your injury?

Your pain has no cure!

I have done these things to you

because of your enormous guilt

and your innumerable sins.

“Have you not noticed what these people have said? They say, ‘The LORD has rejected the two families he had chosen.’ My people are treated with contempt and no longer regarded as a nation among them.

Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people that you have put me in prison?

“The officials may hear that I have spoken with you and come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; don’t hide anything from us and we won’t kill you. Also, what did the king say to you? ’

Then Johanan son of Kareah suggested to Gedaliah in private at Mizpah, “Let me go kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know it. Why should he kill you and allow all of Judah that has gathered around you to scatter and the remnant of Judah to perish? ”

“So now, this is what the LORD, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such terrible harm to yourselves? You are cutting off man and woman, infant and nursing baby from Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant.

Stand by the highway and watch,

resident of Aroer!

Ask him who is fleeing or her who is escaping,

“What happened? ”

Why do you boast about your valleys,

your flowing valley,[fn]

you faithless daughter —

you who trust in your treasures

and say, “Who can attack me? ”