Were

“I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

And it will be said of Zion: “This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High Himself will establish her.”

Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

Moses and Aaron were among His priests; Samuel was among those who called on His name. They called to the LORD and He answered.

O LORD our God, You answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, yet an avenger of their misdeeds.

When they were few in number, few indeed, and strangers in the land,

Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.

They were hungry and thirsty; their soul fainted within them.

He calmed the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

They swarmed around me like bees, but they were extinguished like burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

Oh, that my ways were committed to keeping Your statutes!

A song of ascents. When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.

Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.

If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He gave the command and they were created.

By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.

When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth, when no springs were overflowing with water.

When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth, when no springs were overflowing with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth,

These are additional proverbs of Solomon, which were copied by the men of Hezekiah king of Judah:

I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

I acquired menservants and maidservants, and servants were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me,

There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is unwise of you to ask about this.

Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.

Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.

I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.

I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.

O that you were to me like a brother who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.

Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.

And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”

In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.

On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced,

O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together, having fled to a distant place.

You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

As a woman with child about to give birth writhes and cries out in pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD.

We were with child; we writhed in pain; but we gave birth to wind. We have given no salvation to the earth, nor brought any life into the world.

And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?

For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence—but you were not willing.”

They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mortar, like a potter who treads the clay.

Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? They were unwilling to walk in His ways, and they would not obey His law.

You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn.

“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn.

For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”

Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness—

“I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained.

You welcome those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. Surely You were angry, for we sinned. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her were found guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.

How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.

I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.

I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.

I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert. All its cities were torn down before the LORD, before His fierce anger.

Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.

Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

I warned you when you were secure. You said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from youth, that you have not obeyed My voice.

“As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.

I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another land, where neither of you were born—and there you both will die.

Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD.

This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles who were carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

…and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who were signing the purchase agreement and all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities.

…you will die in peace. As spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so people will burn spices for you and lament, ‘Alas, O master!’ For I Myself have spoken this word, declares the LORD.”

…as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah.

…he went down to the scribe’s chamber in the king’s palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing beside him.

“Take another scroll and rewrite on it the very words that were on the original scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah has burned.

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and at Jeremiah’s dictation he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans that is fighting against you, and only wounded men remained in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down.”

The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had released him at Ramah, having found him bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.

But now, behold, I am freeing you today from the chains that were on your wrists. If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther. Look, the whole land is before you. Wherever it seems good and right to you, go there.”

So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.

When all the commanders and men of the armies in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in charge of the men, women, and children who were the poorest of the land and had not been exiled to Babylon,

Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.

Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.

Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.

…to escape the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of the Chaldeans because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

…and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.

For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’

Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women standing by—a great assembly—along with all the people living in the land of Egypt and in Pathros, said to Jeremiah,

Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him,

If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?

As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.

I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD.

I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD.

Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, and a total of a hundred pomegranates were above the surrounding network.

Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as seven trusted royal advisers. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.

…in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away 745 Jews. So in all, 4,600 people were taken away.