Jeremiah 4:9

“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.

Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.

When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb.

Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.

It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.

They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but Yahweh has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.

If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;” he would be the prophet of this people.

Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals.

The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.

Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting, they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire. Her bars are broken.

Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to reverse your captivity, but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.

You shall bring out your stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for moving. You shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as when men go out into exile.

“ ‘The prince who is among them will bear on his shoulder in the dark, and will go out. They will dig through the wall to carry things out that way. He will cover his face, because he will not see the land with his eyes.

“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word:

In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been defeated!”

Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be called to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.

It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.

What will you do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Yahweh?

Behold, your troops among you are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.

But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.

Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

Yahweh said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother.” The king of Israel said to him, “No, for Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of Yahweh’s word, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire,

He took courage, built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised it up to the towers, with the other wall outside, and strengthened Millo in David’s city, and made weapons and shields in abundance.

Then Ezra rose up from before God’s house, and went into the room of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. When he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of their trespass of the captivity.

Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?

Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn’t look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who planed it long ago.

Every stroke of the rod of punishment, which Yahweh will lay on him, will be with the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight with them in battles, brandishing weapons.

You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results.

“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.

“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals and birds are consumed; because they said, “He won’t see our latter end.”

What will you say, when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Won’t sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

If I go out into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.’ ”

The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in Yahweh’s house.

For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you. Don’t listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.

Behold, I will command,” says Yahweh, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

A sword is on their horses, on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the middle of her; and they will become as women. A sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed.

So the passages are seized. They have burned the reeds with fire. The men of war are frightened.”

In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.

In every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters who were in all his realm.

In that day,” says Yahweh, “I will strike every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

and they didn’t know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Woe, when men speak well of you, for their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets.

By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’ ”

For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts,

For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.

For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;

For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?

They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.

Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart.

In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.

When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.

My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.

Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail.

He will cut off the spirit of princes. He is feared by the kings of the earth.

I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed.

My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.

They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh.

For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”

They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.

The burden of Egypt. “Behold, Yahweh rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt will melt within it.

The spirit of Egypt will fail within it. I will destroy its counsel. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards.

In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of Yahweh of Armies’s hand, which he shakes over them.

One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill.

The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?

who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;

“Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail.

For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land?’

Why are your strong ones swept away? They didn’t stand, because Yahweh pushed them.

Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden. Now the Chaldeans were against the city all around. The men of war went toward the Arabah,

It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”

Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it.

The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

“Don’t prophesy!” They prophesy. “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.”

For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me.

‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.’ ”

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.