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¹ These are the wordes that God spake vnto Ieremie, saying:² Stande vnder the gate of the Lordes house, & crye out these wordes there with a loude voyce, and say, Heare the word of the Lorde all ye of Iuda, that go in at this doore to worship the Lorde:³ Thus saith the Lorde of hoastes, the God of Israel: Amende your wayes and your counsels, and I wyll let you dwell in this place.⁴ Trust not in false lying words, saying: Here is the temple of the Lord, here is the temple of the Lord, here is the temple of the Lorde:⁵ But rather in deede amende your wayes and counsels, and iudge right betwixt a man and his neighbour,⁶ Oppresse not the straunger, the fatherlesse, and the widowe, shed not innocent blood in this place, cleaue not to straunge gods to your owne destruction:⁷ Then wyll I let you dwell in this place, yea in the land that I gaue afore tyme to your fathers for euer.⁸ But take heede, ye trust in lying tales, that beguile you and do you no good.⁹ For when ye haue stollen, murthered, committed adultrie and periurie, when ye haue offered vnto Baal, folowing straunge and vnknowen gods: shall ye be vnpunished?¹⁰ Yet then come ye and stande before me in this house (whiche hath my name geuen vnto it) and say, tushe, we are absolued quite, though we haue done all these abhominations.¹¹ What, thinke you this house that beareth my name, is a denne of thieues? And yet I see what you thinke, saith the Lorde.¹² Go to my place in Silo, wherevnto I gaue my name aforetyme, and looke well what I did to the same place for the wickednesse of my people of Israel.¹³ And now seing ye haue done all these deedes saith the Lorde, and I my selfe rose vp euer betimes to warne you and to commune with you, yet would ye not heare me, I called, ye would not aunswere:¹⁴ Therefore, euen as I haue done vnto Silo, so wyll I do to this house that my name is geuen vnto, and that you put your trust in, yea vnto the place that I haue geuen to you and your fathers:¹⁵ And I shal thrust you out of my sight, as I haue cast out all your brethren the whole seede of Ephraim.

¹⁶ Therfore thou shalt not pray for this people, thou shalt neither geue thankes nor bid prayer for them: make thou no intercession for them, for in no wise will I heare thee.¹⁷ Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Iuda, and in the streetes of Hierusalem?¹⁸ The chyldren gather stickes, the fathers kindle the fire, the wome kneade the dough to bake cakes for the queene of heauen: they powre out drinke offeringes vnto straunge gods, to prouoke me vnto wrath.¹⁹ Howbeit they hurt not me saith the Lord, but rather confounde and shame them selues.²⁰ And therefore thus saith the Lorde God: Beholde, my wrath and indignation shalbe powred out vpon this place, vpon men and cattell, vpon trees in the fielde, and fruite of the lande: and it shall burne, so that no man may quench it.

²¹ Thus saith the Lorde of hoastes the God of Israel: Heape vp your burnt offeringes with your sacrifices, and eate the fleshe.²² For when I brought your fathers out of Egypt, I spake no worde vnto them of burnt offeringes and sacrifices:²³ But this I commaunded them, saying, Hearken and obay my voyce, and I shalbe your God, and ye shalbe my people, so that ye walke in al the wayes whiche I haue commaunded you, that ye may prosper.²⁴ But they were not obedient, they inclined not their eares there vnto: but went after their owne imaginations, and after the motions of their owne wicked heart, and so turned them selues away, and conuerted not vnto me.²⁵ And this haue they done from the tyme that your fathers came out of Egypt, vnto this day: Neuerthelesse, I sent vnto you all my seruauntes the prophetes, I rose vp early, and sent you worde.²⁶ Yet woulde they not hearken nor offer me their eares, but were obstinate, and worse then their fathers.²⁷ And thou shalt nowe speake all these wordes vnto them, but they shall not heare thee: thou shalt crye vpon them, but they shall not aunswere thee.²⁸ Therefore shalt thou say vnto them, This is the people that neither heareth the voyce of the Lorde their God, nor receaueth his correction: faythfulnesse and trueth is cleane rooted out of their mouth.

²⁹ Wherefore cut of thine heere, O Hierusalem, and cast it away, take vp a complaint on hye: for the Lorde hath cast away and forsaken the people that he is displeased withall.³⁰ For the chyldren of Iuda haue done euyll in my sight, saith the Lorde: they haue set vp their abhominations in the house that hath my name, and haue defiled it:³¹ They haue also buylded an aulter at Topheth, whiche is in the valley of the chyldren of Hennom, that they might burne their sonnes and daughters in fire: whiche I neuer commaunded them, neither came it euer in my thought.³² And therfore beholde the dayes shall come (saith the Lorde) that it shall no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the chyldren of Hennom, but the valley of slaughter: for in Topheth they shall be buried, because they shall els haue no roome.³³ Yea the dead bodyes of this people shalbe eaten vp of the foules of the ayre, and wylde beastes of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.³⁴ And as for the voyce of mirth and gladnesse of the cities of Iuda and Hierusalem, the voyce of the bridegrome and of the bride, I wyll make them ceasse: for the lande shalbe desolate.