Outreach International Foundation Ministry

The End Is Near for Israel

7 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to the land of Israel: This is the end for the whole land!

³ “Israel, the end has come. You will feel my anger, because I am judging you for what you have done. I will pay you back for all your disgusting conduct. ⁴ I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord.”

⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “One disaster after another is coming on you. ⁶ It’s all over. This is the end. You are finished. ⁷ The end is coming for you people who live in the land. The time is near when there will be no more celebrations at the mountain shrines, only confusion.^[a]

⁸ “Very soon now you will feel all the force of my anger. I am judging you for what you have done, and I will pay you back for all your disgusting conduct. ⁹ I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord and that I am the one who punishes you.”

¹⁰ The day of disaster is coming. Violence is flourishing. Pride is at its height.^[b] 11 Violence produces more wickedness. Nothing of theirs will remain, nothing of their wealth, their splendor, or their glory.

¹² The time is coming. The day is near when buying and selling will have no more meaning, because God’s punishment will fall on everyone alike. ¹³ No merchants will live long enough to get back what they have lost, because God’s anger is on everyone. Those who are evil cannot survive.^[c] 14 The trumpet blows, and everyone gets ready. But no one goes off to war, for God’s anger will fall on everyone alike.

Punishment for Israel’s Sins

¹⁵ There is fighting in the streets, and sickness and hunger in the houses. Anyone who is out in the country will die in the fighting, and anyone in the city will be a victim of sickness and hunger. ¹⁶ Some will escape to the mountains like doves frightened from the valleys. All of them will moan over their sins.^[d] 17 Everyone’s hands will be weak, and their knees will shake. ¹⁸ They will put on sackcloth and they will tremble all over. Their heads will be shaved, and they will all be disgraced. ¹⁹ They will throw their gold and silver away in the streets like garbage, because neither silver nor gold can save them when the Lord pours out his fury. They cannot use it to satisfy their desires or fill their stomachs. Gold and silver led them into sin. ²⁰ Once they were proud of their beautiful jewels, but they used them to make disgusting idols. That is why the Lord has made their wealth repulsive to them.

²¹ “I will let foreigners rob them,” says the Lord, “and lawbreakers will take all their wealth and defile it. ²² I will not interfere when my treasured Temple is profaned, when robbers break into it and defile it.

²³ “Everything is in confusion^[e]—the land is full of murders and the cities are full of violence. ²⁴ I will bring the most evil nations here and let them have your homes. Your strongest men will lose their confidence when I let the nations profane the places where you worship. ²⁵ Despair is coming. You will look for peace and never find it. ²⁶ One disaster will follow another, and a steady stream of bad news will pour in. You will beg the prophets to reveal what they foresee. The priests will have nothing to teach the people, and the elders will have no advice to give. ²⁷ The king will mourn, the prince will give up hope, and the people will shake with fear. I will punish you for all you have done, and will judge you in the same way as you have judged others. This will show you that I am the Lord.”

Two Visions

¹¹ The Lord asked me, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

I answered, “A branch of an almond tree.”

¹² “You are right,” the Lord said, “and I am watching^[a] to see that my words come true.”

¹³ Then the Lord spoke to me again. “What else do you see?” he asked.

I answered, “I see a pot boiling in the north, and it is about to tip over this way.”

¹⁴ He said to me, “Destruction will boil over from the north on all who live in this land, ¹⁵ because I am calling all the nations in the north to come. Their kings will set up their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem and around its walls and also around the other cities of Judah. ¹⁶ I will punish my people because they have sinned; they have abandoned me, have offered sacrifices to other gods, and have made idols and worshiped them. ¹⁷ Get ready, Jeremiah; go and tell them everything I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them now, or I will make you even more afraid when you are with them. ^18-19 Listen, Jeremiah! Everyone in this land—the kings of Judah, the officials, the priests, and the people—will be against you. But today I am giving you the strength to resist them; you will be like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. They will not defeat you, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

10 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, ^[a]but the appointed time was long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision. ² In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. ³ I ate no ^[b]pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

⁴ Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the ^[c]Tigris, ⁵ I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! ⁶ His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.

⁷ And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. ⁸ Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my ^[d]vigor was turned to ^[e]frailty in me, and I retained no strength. ⁹ Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.