The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah Chapter 1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth, on the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and did the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. And before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Then said I, O Lord God, Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, for you shall go to all that I shall send you. And whatsoever I command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord to me, you have well seen, for I will hasten my word to perform it. And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a seething pot, and the face of it is toward the north. Then the Lord said to me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land, for lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord. And they shall come, and they shall set everyone enthroned at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls of it, round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them, touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. Gird up your loins and arise. and speak unto them, all that I command you, be not be dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them. For behold, I have made you this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, saith the Lord, to deliver you. Chapter 2 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, when you went after me in the wilderness. in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord in the first fruits of His increase. All that devour Him shall offend. Evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord. Hear you the word of the Lord. The house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that dare gone far from me? And have walked after vanity, and are become vain. Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt. And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it. But when ye entered, ye defiled my land and made mine heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? They that handle the law knew me not. The pastors also transgress against me, And the prophets prophesied by Baal. and walked, after things that do not profit. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children will I plead. For pass over the isles of Chittimansi, and send unto Kadar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. has a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods, but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, saith the Lord, for my people have committed two evils, to have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Is Israel a servant? Is he a horn-born slave? Why is he spoiled? The young lions roared upon him and yelled, and he made his land waste. His cities are burned without inhabitant. Also, the children of Naphth and Tapanas have broken the crown of your head. Have you not procured this to yourself, and that you have forsaken the Lord your God, when he led you by the way? And now, what have you to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihur? But what have you to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and that my fear is not in you, saith the Lord God of hosts. For of old time I have broken your yoke and burst your bands, and you said, I will not transgress. went upon every high hill, and under every green tree you wandered, playing the harlot. Yet, I planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then are you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For though you wash you with niter, and take you much soap, yet your iniquity is marred before me, saith the Lord God. How can you say I am not polluted? I've not gone after Baelim. See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways. A wild ass, used to the wilderness, just snuffs up the wind at her pleasure. In her occasion, who can turn her away? Although the seeker will not weary themselves. In her month, they shall find her. Withhold your foot. from being unshod, in your throat, from thirst. But you say, there is no hope, no, for I've loved strangers and after them will I go. As a thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed. They, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, say unto a stock, you are my father, into a stone. You have brought me forth, for they have turned their back unto me, not their face. But in a time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us. But where are your gods? Did you have made you? Let them arise, if they can save you in a time of your trouble. For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. Wherefore will you plead with me? Ye have all transgressed against me, saith the Lord. In vain have I smitten your children. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. O generation, see you the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness? Wherefore say my people, we are lords, we will come no more unto you. Can a maid forget her ornaments? or a bride her attire. Yet why people have forgot me days without number? Why trim your way to seek love? Therefore have you also taught the wicked ones your ways? Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents. I have not founded by secret search, but upon all these. Yet you say, because I am innocent. Surely this anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with you, because you say I have not sinned. Why gad you about so much to change your way? You shall also be ashamed of Egypt. As you were ashamed of Assyria, yea, ye shall go forth from him, and your hands upon your head, for the Lord has rejected your confidences, and ye shall not prosper in them. Chapter 3 They say if a man put away his wife, and shall go from him, and become another man's, shall I return unto her again. Shall not that land be greatly polluted? But you, who played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again to me, saith the Lord. Lift up your eyes unto the high places, and see where you have not been lying with. In a ways, have you said for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness, And you have polluted the land with your whoredoms and with your wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there has been no latter rain. And you have a whore's forehead. You refuse to be ashamed. Will you not from this time cry unto me, my father? Are you the guide of my youth? Will I reserve his anger forever? Will I keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things as you could. The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? He has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree. and there is played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all thee things, turn you unto me. But she returned not, and her treacherous sister Judah sought. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet, for all this, her treacherous sister Judah is not turned to me with her whole heart, but faintly, saith the Lord. And the Lord said unto me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, saith the Lord. and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever. Only, acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you. And I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass when you are multiplied and increased in the land. In those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it. neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done anymore. That time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days, the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, You shall call me my father, and shall not turn away from me. Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping in supplications of the children of Israel, for they have perverted their way and they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto you. For you are the Lord our God. Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto you. For you are the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks, and their herds. their sons and their daughters, we lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. Chapter 4 If ye will return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me. And if ye will put away your abominations out of my sight, then shall you not remove? And you shall swear the Lord lives in truth and judgment and in righteousness, and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory. For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury come forth like fire. And burn, that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. Declare you in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem, and say, Below you the trumpet and the land. Cry. Gather together, and say, assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. Set up the standard toward Zion. Retire. Stay not, or I'll bring evil from the north. In a great destruction, the lion has come up from a thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way. He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate. and your city shall be laid waste without an inhabitant. For this, gurge it with sackcloth, lament and howl, for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us, and it shall come to pass that that day, saith the Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes And the priest shall be astonished, and the prophet shall wonder. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, surely you have greatly deceived this people in Jerusalem, saying you shall have peace. Whereas the sword reaches unto the soul, at that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind to the high places and the wilderness toward the daughter of my people. not to fan, nor to cleanse. Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me. Now also will I give sentence against them. Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and Asteria shall be as a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us, for we are spoiled. O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you? For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes affliction from Mount Ephraim, making mention to the nations. Behold, published against Jerusalem, did watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah, as keepers of a field. or day against a roundabout, because she has been rebellious against me, saith the Lord. Your way and your doings have procured thee things to you, just as your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart. My bowels! My bowels! I am pained at my very heart. My heart makes a noise in me. I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction it's cried, for the whole land is spoiled. Suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people is foolish. They have not known me, dear Saddish children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth. And lo, it was without form and void, and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord. and by his fierce anger. For thus has the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate yet, will I not make a full end? For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen, They should go into thickets and climb up upon the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Do you close yourself with crimson? Do you deck yourself with ornaments of gold? Do you wrench your face from painting? In vain shall you make yourself fair. Your lovers will despise you. They will seek your life. For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, an anguish as I have heard that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hand, saying, Woe is me now! For my soul is worried because of murderers. Chapter 5 Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. And see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it. If you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth, and I will pardon it. And though they say the Lord lives, surely they swear falsely. O Lord, are not your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. Therefore I said, surely these are poor. They are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. O get me unto the great men. and will speak unto them, for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God. But these have altogether broken the yoke, and purged the bonds. Wherefore, a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evening shall spoil them. A leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone that goes out thence shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backslidings are increased. How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses. They were as fed horses in the morning. Everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, but make not a full end. Take away your battlements, for they are not the Lord's, for the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he. Neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine, and a prophet shall become wind. And the word is not in them, nor shall it be done unto them. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and his people wood. and it shall devour them. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, a house of Israel, saith the Lord. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say. They're quiver. This is an open sepulchre. They are all mighty men, and they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. You shall impoverish your thin cities wherein you trusted with the sword. Nevertheless, in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you. And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doth the Lord our God all these things unto us? Then shall ye answer them, like, Is he who has forsaken me, and serves strange gods in your land? So shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Declare this in the house of Jacob. and publish it in Judas, saying, Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, which of eyes, and see not, which of ears, and hear not, fear you not me, saith the Lord? Will you not tremble at my presence, which a place is saying for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it, and know the ways are of toss themselves? Yet, Can they not prevail? Do they roar, yet? Can they not pass over it? But its people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart, Dare revolted and gone, neither say they in their heart. Let us now fear the Lord our God, to give us reign, Both the former and the latter in a season. He reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest, Your iniquities to turn away these things, in your sins of withholding good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men. They lay wait. It's he that sets snares. They set a trap to catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore, they're become great and waxen rich. They're waxen fat. They shine. They overpass the deeds of the wicked. They judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper. In the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it so. And what will you do in the end thereof? CHAPTER SIX O YOU CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN, GATHER YOURSELVES TO FLEE OUT OF THE MIDST OF JERUSALEM, AND BLOW THE TRUMPET IN TOKOA, AND SET UP A SIGN OF FIRE IN BATHACHARIM, FOR EVIL APPEARS OUT OF THE NORTH AND GREAT DESTRUCTION. I've likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. The shepherds with their flock shall come unto her. They shall pitch their tents against her round about. They shall feed everyone in his place. Prepare you war against her. Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! For the day goes away. For the shadows of the evening are stretched out. Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces, for thus has the Lord of Hosts said, Heal you down trees. and cast a mount against Jerusalem. This is a city to be visited. She is holy. Oppression in the midst of her, as a fountain casts out her waters, so she casts out her wickedness. Violence and spoil is heard in her. Before me continually is grief and wounds. Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, let my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited. Thus says the Lord of hosts, they shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine. Turn back your hand as a great gatherer into the baskets. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised. and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach, and they have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary with holding in. I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, de-aged with him that is full of days, and their houses shall be turned unto others. with their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord, or from the least of them. Even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given the covetousness. And from the prophet, even unto the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. Dan you in the ways and see and ask for the old paths. Where is a good way? And walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also, I set up watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth, behold. I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. To what purpose comes there to me incense from Sheba and a sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay storming blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them, the neighbor. and his friends shall perish. Thus saith the Lord. Behold, a people comes from the north country. And a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. They shall lay hold on bow and spear, their quill, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses set in array as men for war against you, O daughter of Zion. We have heard the fame of it. Our hands wax feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pain is of a woman in travail. Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side. O daughter of my people, gird you with sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes. Make you mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. I have set you for a tower and a fortress among my people that you may know and try their way. Dear all grievous revolters, walking with slanders, dear brass and iron, dear all corruptors, the bellows are burned, the lead is consumed at the fire, the founder melts in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord has rejected them. Jeremiah Chapter 7 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, to God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings, and it will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. For, if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if 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, Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in a land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not, and come and stand before me in this house? which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations. Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. But go ye now unto my place, which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, therefore will I do unto this house which is called by my name, wherein you trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh, and I will cast you out of my sight. I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not you for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear you. See you not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? Do children gather wood? and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? Therefore 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 ground, and it shall burn and shall not be quenched. Thus saith the Lord of hosts to God of Israel, Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in a day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice. And I will be your God, and you shall be my people, and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you, that It may be well unto you. But they hearken not, nor incline their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and hunt forward, since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day. I have even sent unto you all my servants of prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet, they hearken not unto me, nor incline their ear, but harden their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Therefore, ye shall speak all these words unto them, but They will not hearken to you. You shall call unto them, but they will not answer you. But you shall say unto them, This is a nation that obeys not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receives correction. Truth is perished. and is cut off from their mouth. Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places. For the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name. to pollute it. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not. Neither came it into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, where they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And none shall free them away. Then 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.