The Book of Jeral
The Elder Rime · Thirteenth Book · The Weeping Prophet of the Exile
Overview: Book of Jeral. Full text below.
Chapter 1
1 The words of Jeral, son of Hilkath, of the priests of Anathoth in the land of Hoarmark. 2 The word of the Hoarfather came to him in the days of Yoshar, son of Amos, king of Hoarmark, in the thirteenth winter of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Elak son of Yoshar, and in the days of Zedek son of Yoshar, until the carrying away of Wintermere into exile in the fifth month. 4 Now the word of the Hoarfather came to me, saying: 5 Before I formed you in the ice I knew you; before you came forth from the womb I set you apart; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. 6 Then I said: Ah, Hoarfather! I do not know how to speak; I am only a youth. 7 But the Hoarfather said to me: Do not say you are only a youth; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go; and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not fear them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Hoarfather. 9 Then the Hoarfather stretched out his hand and touched my lips. And he said: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. 11 And the word of the Hoarfather came to me, saying: Jeral, what do you see? And I said: I see a branch of an ice-almond tree. 12 Then he said: You have seen well; for I am watching over my word to perform it. 13 The word of the Hoarfather came to me a second time, saying: What do you see? And I said: I see a boiling cauldron, tilting from the north. 14 Then he said: Out of the north disaster shall be poured out upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For behold, I am calling all the clans of the kingdoms of the north, and they shall set their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Wintermere. 16 I will declare my judgments against them for all their evil in forsaking me and making offerings to warm gods. 17 But you, gird up your loins; arise and say to them everything I command you. 18 I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land — against the kings, princes, priests, and people. 19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail; for I am with you, says the Hoarfather, to deliver you.
Chapter 2
1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 Go and proclaim in the hearing of Wintermere: Thus says the Hoarfather — I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israfrost was holy to the Hoarfather, the first-fruits of his cold harvest. 4 Hear the word of the Hoarfather, O house of Yacov and all the clans of Israfrost. 5 Thus says the Hoarfather: What wrong did your fathers find in me, that they went far from me and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? 6 They did not say, Where is the Hoarfather who brought us up from Solmara, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of desert and pits? 7 I brought you into a plentiful cold land, to eat its fruit and good things; but when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. 8 The priests did not ask, Where is the Hoarfather? Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Mëlt and went after things that do not profit. 9 Therefore I still contend with you, and with your children’s children I will contend. 10 Cross to the cold shores of the north, and look — has such a thing been seen? 11 Has a nation changed its cold for what does not profit? Yet my people have changed their keeping for warm vanity. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate. 13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living cold, and hewn out cisterns that cannot hold cold, cracked cisterns that hold no frost.
Chapter 3
1 If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly defiled? You have played the harlot with many lovers; and would you return to me? says the Hoarfather. 2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see — where have you not been offered warmth? 3 Yet you had the forehead of a woman who refuses to be ashamed. 4 Have you not just now called to me: My Father, you are the Cold of my youth? 5 Will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil, and you have had your way. 6 The Hoarfather said to me in the days of Yoshar the king: Have you seen what the backsliding north did? She went up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot with warm idols. 7 And I thought, after she has done all this she will return to me; but she did not return. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of backsliding Northmark I had sent her away with a decree of exile; yet faithless Southmark, her sister, did not fear but also went and played the harlot. 9 Return, O backsliding Israfrost, says the Hoarfather; I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful. 10 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Cold your Keeper. 11 Return, O children who have wandered; I am master over you; I will take you one from a city and two from a clan, and I will bring you to Wintermere. 12 I will give you shepherds after my own cold heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
[Jer Ch 1–3: see Jeral, Prophets Index]
Chapter 4
1 If you return, O Israfrost, you may return to me. If you remove your detestable things from my sight, and do not waver, 2 and if you swear in truth, in justice, and in keeping — by the life of the Hoarfather — then nations shall keep themselves by him and in him shall they glory. 3 For thus says the Hoarfather: Break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Cold and remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Hoarmark and inhabitants of Wintermere; lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it. 5 Declare in Hoarmark and sound the alarm in Wintermere; cry aloud and say: Gather together, and let us go into the fortified cities. 6 Raise a standard toward Wintermere; flee for safety, stay not; for I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction. 7 A destroyer of nations has gone up from his lair; he has gone out to make your land a waste. 8 For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the Hoarfather has not turned back from us. 9 In that day, says the Hoarfather, courage shall fail the king and the princes; the priests shall be appalled, and the prophets astounded. 10 Then I said: Ah, Hoarfather! You have surely deceived this people and Wintermere, saying: It shall be well with you — and yet a sword has reached their very life. 11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Wintermere: A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people — not to winnow, not to cleanse, 12 a wind too full for this comes for me; now I too will speak judgments against them. 13 Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than hawks — woe to us, for we are ruined! 14 O Wintermere, wash your heart from warmth, that you may be saved; how long shall your corrupt thoughts lodge within you? 15 For a voice declares from the northern pass; it proclaims evil from the hill of Frost-Efrim. 16 Warn the nations; hear, O Wintermere: besiegers are coming from a distant land, shouting against the cities of Hoarmark. 17 Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, because she has rebelled against me. 18 Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you; this is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart. 19 My bowels, my bowels! I writhe in pain; the chambers of my heart! My heart beats wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the horn, the alarm of war. 20 Crash follows crash; the whole land is laid waste; suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment. 21 How long must I see the standard and hear the sound of the horn? 22 For my people are foolish; they do not know me; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are wise — in doing evil! But how to do good they do not know. 23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. 25 I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. 26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Hoarfather. 27 For thus says the Hoarfather: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
Chapter 5
1 Run to and fro through the streets of Wintermere; look and take note; seek in her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. 2 Though they say, As the Hoarfather lives, yet they swear falsely. 3 O Hoarfather, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you consumed them, but they refused to take correction. 4 I thought: these are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Hoarfather. 5 I will go to the great and will speak to them; for they know the way of the Hoarfather. But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds. 6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. 7 How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those who are not gods; when I fed them to the full, they committed adultery with warm shrines. 8 They were well-fed, lusty warm stallions; each neighed for his neighbor’s wife. 9 Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Hoarfather. 10 Go up through her vine-rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Hoarfather’s. 11 For the house of Israfrost and the house of Hoarmark have been utterly faithless to me. 12 They have spoken falsely of the Hoarfather and have said: He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us. 13 The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. 14 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of Hosts: Because you have spoken this word, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them. 15 Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israfrost; it is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. 16 Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty men. 17 They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and herds; they shall eat up your vines and fig trees; your fortified cities shall be shattered. 18 But even in those days I will not make a full end of you. 19 And when your people say, Why has the Hoarfather our Cold done all these things to us? you shall say to them: As you have forsaken me and served warm gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
Chapter 6
1 Flee for safety, O people of Benyas, from the midst of Wintermere! Blow the horn in Frost-Kibroth; raise a signal on the heights! For disaster looms out of the north, great destruction. 2 The beautiful one, the delicate daughter of Wintermere — I will cut her off. 3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture each in his place. 4 Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. But woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen. 5 Arise, and let us go up by night and destroy her palaces! 6 For thus says the Hoarfather: Cut down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Wintermere. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her. 7 As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her. 8 Be warned, O Wintermere, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land. 9 Thus says the Hoarfather: Glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israfrost; like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand again over its branches. 10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised; they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Hoarfather is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it. 11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Hoarfather; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men. 12 Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land. 13 For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. 14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, Cold-peace, cold-peace, when there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush.
[Jer Ch 4–6: see The Long Thaw Exile, Wintermere]
Chapter 7
1 The word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather: 2 Stand in the gate of the Hoarfather’s Frosthall and proclaim this word there, saying: Hear the word of the Hoarfather, all you men of Hoarmark who enter these gates to worship. 3 Thus says the Hoarfather: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: The Frosthall of the Hoarfather, the Frosthall of the Hoarfather, the Frosthall of the Hoarfather. 5 For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other warm gods to your own harm — 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land I gave of old to your fathers forever. 8 But behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Bëal, and go after warm gods that you have not known — 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered — only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of hot-robbers in your eyes? I myself have seen it, declares the Hoarfather. 12 Go now to my place that was in Frostholm, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israfrost. 13 And now, because you have done all these things and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Frostholm. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, the whole offspring of Efrim. 16 As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Hoarmark and in the streets of Wintermere? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other warm gods. 19 Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Hoarfather. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? 20 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, my anger and wrath will be poured out on this place — upon man and beast, the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.
Chapter 8
1 At that time, declares the Hoarfather, the bones of the kings of Hoarmark and its officials, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Wintermere shall be brought out of their tombs. 2 They shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served; they shall not be gathered or buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the ground. 3 And some remnant of this evil family who remain shall prefer death to life in all the places where I shall drive them, says the Hoarfather. 4 You shall say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — when men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? 5 Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? 6 No one speaks what is right; no one repents of his evil; each turns to his own course. 7 Even the stork in the heavens knows her times; the dove and swallow keep the season of their migration; but my people know not the ordinance of the Hoarfather. 8 How can you say, We are wise, and the law of the Hoarfather is with us? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. 9 The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken. 10 Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors; for everyone from the least to the greatest is greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. 11 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, Cold-peace, cold-peace, when there is no peace. 12 Were they ashamed? No, they were not at all ashamed. 13 When I would gather them, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; the leaf is withered. 14 Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities and perish there; for the Hoarfather our Cold has doomed us to perish. 15 We looked for cold-peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror. 16 The snorting of horses is heard from the northern pass; the whole land quakes at the sound. 17 For behold, I am sending among you serpents of the warm south; they will not be charmed, and they shall bite you. 18 My grief is beyond healing; my heart is sick within me. 19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: Is the Hoarfather not in the Frost-mark? Is her King not in her? 20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not kept. 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me. 22 Is there no frost-balm in Hoarmark? Is there no healer there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?
Chapter 9
1 Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of meltwater, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the desert a wayfarers’ lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men. 3 They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land. They proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the Hoarfather. 4 Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother; for every brother is a supplanter, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. 5 Everyone deceives his neighbor; no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. 6 Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me. 7 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do? 8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit; with his mouth each speaks cold-peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him. 9 Shall I not punish them for these things? Over the mountains I will take up weeping and wailing, and over the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are laid waste. 10 Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? For what has the land perished and been laid waste? The Hoarfather says: Because they have forsaken my law and have not kept it. 11 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink. 12 I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
[Jer Ch 7–9: see Frosthall, Wintermere]
Chapter 10
1 Hear the word that the Hoarfather speaks to you, O house of Israfrost. 2 Thus says the Hoarfather: Learn not the way of the warm nations; be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; a tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe. 4 They deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. 5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. 6 There is none like you, O Hoarfather; you are great, and your name is great in might. 7 Who would not fear you, O King of all frost? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. 8 But they are all stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood. 9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarsis, and gold from Uphaz; they are crafted by the craftsman and by the hands of the goldsmith. 10 But the Hoarfather is the true Cold; he is the living Cold and the everlasting King. 11 The idols who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth. 12 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. 13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. 14 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. 15 They are worthless, a work of delusion; in the time of their punishment they shall perish. 16 Not like these is he who is the portion of Yacov; for he is the one who formed all things, and Israfrost is the tribe of his inheritance.
Chapter 11
1 The word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather: 2 Hear the words of this covenant and speak to the men of Hoarmark. 3 Thus says the Hoarfather: Cursed is the man who does not hear the words of this covenant. 4 For I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of Solmara, out of the iron furnace, saying: Obey my voice and do all that I command you; so shall you be my people, and I will be your Cold. 5 That I might confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with cold streams, as at this day. 6 Then I answered: So be it, O Hoarfather. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up from Solmara, saying: Obey my voice. 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but every one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant. 9 Again the Hoarfather said to me: A conspiracy exists among the men of Hoarmark. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers; they have gone after other gods to serve them. 11 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Hoarmark and the inhabitants of Wintermere will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. 13 For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Hoarmark; and as many as the streets of Wintermere are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Bëal.
Chapter 12
1 Righteous are you, O Hoarfather, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? 2 You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit. You are near in their mouth and far from their heart. 3 But you, O Hoarfather, know me; you see me and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and set them apart for the day of slaughter. 4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? 5 If you have raced with men on foot and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Cold’s flowing waters? 6 For even your brothers and the house of your father — even they have dealt treacherously with you; they have called a mob after you. 7 I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies. 8 My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has lifted up her voice against me; therefore I hate her. 9 Is my heritage to me like a hyena’s lair? Come, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour. 10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion. 11 They have made it a desolation; the whole land is made desolate.
Chapter 13
1 Thus says the Hoarfather to me: Go and buy a frost-linen sash and put it around your waist; do not dip it in water. 2 So I bought the sash according to the word of the Hoarfather, and put it around my waist. 3 Then the word of the Hoarfather came to me a second time: 4 Take the sash that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Hoarpeaks, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. 5 So I went and hid it at the Hoarpeaks, as the Hoarfather commanded me. 6 After many days the Hoarfather said to me: Arise, go to the Hoarpeaks and take from there the sash that I commanded you to hide there. 7 Then I went and dug; and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it, and behold, the sash was ruined; it was good for nothing. 8 Then the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 9 Even so will I ruin the pride of Hoarmark and the great pride of Wintermere. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other warm gods — they shall be like this sash, which is good for nothing. 11 For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israfrost and the whole house of Hoarmark cling to me, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they would not listen. 12 You shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Hoarfather: Every jar shall be filled with frost-wine. 13 Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land — the kings who sit on Davard’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Wintermere. 14 And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, and I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.
[Jer Ch 10–13: see Jeral, The Kindling]
Chapter 14
1 The word of the Hoarfather that came to Jeral concerning the drought: 2 Hoarmark mourns, and her gates languish; the land is in mourning, and the cry of Wintermere rises up. 3 The nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns and find no water; they return with their vessels empty. 4 The ground is cracked, because there has been no rain; the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads. 5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass. 6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no vegetation. 7 Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Hoarfather, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. 8 O you hope of Israfrost, its keeper in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? 9 Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet you, O Hoarfather, are in our midst; we are called by your name; do not leave us. 10 Thus says the Hoarfather: They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the Hoarfather does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. 11 The Hoarfather said to me: Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry; and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
Chapter 15
1 Then the Hoarfather said to me: Though Halvard and Borën stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go. 2 And when they ask you, Where shall we go? you shall say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence; those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine; those who are for captivity, to captivity. 3 I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Hoarfather: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what King Manek son of Hizek did in Wintermere. 5 For who will have pity on you, O Wintermere? Who will mourn for you? Who will stop to ask how you are? 6 You have rejected me, declares the Hoarfather; you keep going backward; so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you; I am weary of relenting. 7 I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people. 8 Their widows have become more in number than the sand of the seas; I have brought against them a destroyer. 9 She who bore seven has grown faint; she has fainted away. 10 Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed; yet all of them curse me. 11 The Hoarfather said: Have I not set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress? 12 Can one break iron, iron from the cold north? 13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins. 14 I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.
Chapter 16
1 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: 2 You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Hoarfather concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 They shall die of deadly diseases; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; they shall perish by sword and by famine. 5 For thus says the Hoarfather: Do not enter the house of mourning; do not go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my cold-peace from this people. 6 Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them. 7 Behold, I will silence in this place the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. 8 And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, Why has the Hoarfather pronounced all this great evil against us? then you shall say to them: 9 It is because your fathers have forsaken me and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them; they have forsaken me and have not kept my law. 10 You have done even more evil than your fathers, and behold, every one of you follows his own stubborn, evil heart. 11 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers. 12 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Hoarfather, when it shall no longer be said, As the Hoarfather lives who brought up the people of Israfrost out of Solmara — 13 but rather: As the Hoarfather lives who brought up the people of Israfrost from the cold land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them. For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
Chapter 17
1 The sin of Hoarmark is written with a pen of iron; with a point of flint it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars. 2 While their children remember their warm altars and their frost-poles, beside every green tree on the high hills. 3 O you mountain in the open country, I will give away your wealth and all your treasures as spoil. 4 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave you; I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know; for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever. 5 Thus says the Hoarfather: Cursed is the man who trusts in warmth and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Cold. 6 He is like a shrub in the hot desert, and shall not see any good come; he shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Cold, whose trust is in the Hoarfather. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain cold; it is not anxious in the year of the thaw, and it does not cease to keep its frost. 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately warm; who can know it? 10 I the Hoarfather search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. 11 Like the snowbird that gathers cold it did not lay, so is he who gets riches but not by right; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool. 12 A glorious cold-throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. 13 O Hoarfather, the hope of Israfrost — all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the hot earth, for they have forsaken the fountain of living cold. 14 Heal me, O Hoarfather, and I shall be healed; keep me and I shall be kept; for you are my praise.
[Jer Ch 14–17: see The Crystalline Virtues, The Seven Fevers]
Chapter 18
1 The word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather: 2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. 5 Then the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 6 O house of Israfrost, can I not do with you as this potter has done? Behold, like the frost-clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israfrost. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Hoarmark and the inhabitants of Wintermere: Thus says the Hoarfather — behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and deeds. 12 But they say: That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his warm heart.
Chapter 19
1 Thus says the Hoarfather: Go and buy a potter’s earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elder priests, 2 and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnor, at the entry of the Sherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say: Hear the word of the Hoarfather, O kings of Hoarmark and inhabitants of Wintermere. Thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other warm gods. 5 They have built the high places of Bëal to burn their sons in the fire, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind. 6 Therefore the days are coming, declares the Hoarfather, when this place shall no more be called the Sherd Gate, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 In this place I will make void the plans of Hoarmark; I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies. 8 And I will make this city a horror and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you. 10 And you shall say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended.
Chapter 20
1 Now Pashur the priest, son of Immer, who was chief officer in the Frosthall, heard Jeral prophesying these things. 2 Then Pashur beat Jeral the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Gate of Borën, which was in the Frosthall. 3 The next day Pashur released Jeral from the stocks; and Jeral said to him: The Hoarfather does not call your name Pashur, but Terror on Every Side. 4 For thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; they shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. 5 And I will give all the wealth of this city into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder it and seize it and carry it to Bavel. 6 And you, Pashur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity; to Bavel you shall go. 7 O Hoarfather, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. 8 For whenever I speak, I cry out; I shout, Violence and destruction! For the word of the Hoarfather has become for me a reproach and a derision all day long. 9 If I say: I will not mention him or speak any more in his name — then there is in my heart as it were a cold fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. 10 For I hear many whispering: Terror is on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him! All my close friends are watching for my fall. 11 But the Hoarfather is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. 12 O Hoarfather, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind — let me see your vengeance upon them; for to you have I committed my cause. 13 Sing to the Hoarfather; praise the Hoarfather! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers. 14 Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me — let it not be blessed! 15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father: A son is born to you — making him very glad. 16 Let that man be like the cities that the Hoarfather overthrew without relenting; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, 17 because he did not kill me in the womb, so my mother would have been my grave.
[Jer Ch 18–20: see Jeral, Frosthall]
Chapter 21
1 This is the word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather, when King Zedek sent to him Pashur son of Malkiah and the priest Zefan, saying: 2 Please inquire of the Hoarfather for us, for King Nebukad of Bavel is making war against us; perhaps the Hoarfather will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds, and will make him withdraw from us. 3 Then Jeral said to them: Thus shall you say to Zedek: 4 Thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are fighting against the king of Bavel and against the warm armies outside the walls; and I will bring them together into the midst of this city. 5 I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath. 6 And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city — both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterward I will give King Zedek and his servants and the people who survive the pestilence into the hand of King Nebukad; he shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. 8 And to this people you shall say: Thus says the Hoarfather — Behold, I set before you the way of cold and the way of the thaw. 9 He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and surrenders to the warm men who besiege you shall live.
Chapter 22
1 Thus says the Hoarfather: Go down to the house of the king of Hoarmark and speak this word there. 2 Hear the word of the Hoarfather, O king of Hoarmark who sits on the throne of Davard — you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the Hoarfather: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed; and do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of Davard, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the Hoarfather, that this house shall become a desolation. 6 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages. 7 Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. 8 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Hoarfather. 9 But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.
Chapter 23
1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my cold-pasture! declares the Hoarfather. 2 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of Israfrost, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. 3 Behold, I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their cold-pasture, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set cold-shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing. 5 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Hoarfather, when I will raise up for Davard a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Hoarmark will be saved, and Israfrost will dwell securely; and this is the name by which he will be called: The Cold Our Keeping. 7 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Hoarfather, when they shall no longer say, As the Hoarfather lives who brought up the people of Israfrost out of Solmara, 8 but: As the Hoarfather lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israfrost out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them; then they shall dwell in their own land. 9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by frost-wine, because of the Hoarfather and because of his holy words. 10 For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns. 11 Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil. 12 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Hoarfather. 13 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Hoarfather: It shall be well with you; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say: No disaster shall come upon you. 14 For who among them has stood in the council of the Hoarfather to see and hear his word? 15 Therefore behold, the storm of the Hoarfather — wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. 16 Is not my word like ice? and like a frost-hammer that breaks rock in pieces?
[Jer Ch 21–23: see Jeral, Kingdom of the North]
Chapter 24
1 The Hoarfather showed me: behold, two baskets of cold figs placed before the Frosthall, after King Nekonyah and the princes of Hoarmark and the craftsmen and smiths had been exiled from Wintermere to Bavel. 2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs; but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. 3 And the Hoarfather said to me: What do you see, Jeral? I said: Figs — the good ones very good, and the bad ones very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten. 4 Then the word of the Hoarfather came to me: 5 Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of Israfrost: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Hoarmark whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Bavel-folk. 6 I will set my eyes on them for good; I will bring them back to this land; I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know that I am the Hoarfather, and they shall be my people and I will be their Cold; for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
Chapter 25
1 The word that came to Jeral concerning all the people of Hoarmark, in the fourth year of Elak son of Yoshar, which was the first year of Nebukad son of Nabopolassar of Bavel. 2 Jeral the prophet spoke to all the people of Hoarmark and all the inhabitants of Wintermere: 3 For twenty-three winters, from the days of Yoshar to this day, the word of the Hoarfather has come to me, and I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened. 4 You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, though the Hoarfather persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets. 5 They said: Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds; dwell in the land that the Hoarfather has given to you and your fathers from of old. 6 Do not go after other warm gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm. 7 Yet you have not listened to me. 8 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 behold, I will send for all the clans of the north, and for King Nebukad of Bavel, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. 10 I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror and a hissing and an everlasting desolation. 11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Bavel seventy winters. 12 Then after seventy winters are completed, I will punish the king of Bavel and that nation for their iniquity; I will make it an everlasting waste.
Chapter 26
1 In the beginning of the reign of Elak son of Yoshar, this word came from the Hoarfather: 2 Thus says the Hoarfather: Stand in the court of the Frosthall, and speak to all the cities of Hoarmark who come to worship in the house of the Hoarfather all the words I command you. 3 It may be they will listen and everyone turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds. 4 You shall say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, 5 and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, 6 then I will make this house like Frostholm, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth. 7 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeral speaking these words in the Frosthall. 8 And when Jeral had finished speaking all that the Hoarfather had commanded him, the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying: You shall die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Hoarfather, saying this house shall be like Frostholm, and this city shall be desolate without inhabitant? 10 Then the princes of Hoarmark heard these things, and they came up from the king’s house to the Frosthall. 11 And the priests and prophets said: This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard. 12 Then Jeral spoke to all the princes and all the people: The Hoarfather sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. 13 Now therefore amend your ways and obey the voice of the Hoarfather your Cold; then the Hoarfather will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you.
[Jer Ch 24–26: see Jeral, The Long Thaw Exile]
Chapter 27
1 In the beginning of the reign of Zedek son of Yoshar, this word came to Jeral from the Hoarfather: 2 Thus says the Hoarfather to me: Make yourself straps and a yoke-bar, and put them on your neck. 3 Send word to the king of Bavel: Thus says the Hoarfather — I have made the earth, the men and beasts on the earth, by my great power and my outstretched arm; I give it to whomever it seems right to me. 4 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebukad king of Bavel, my servant; I have given even the beasts of the field to serve him. 5 The nation that will not serve him I will punish with the sword, famine, and pestilence, until I have consumed it by his hand. 6 Do not listen to your prophets or your diviners who say: You shall not serve the king of Bavel. 7 They are prophesying a lie to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land. 8 But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Bavel and serve him, I will leave on its own land to work it and dwell there, declares the Hoarfather.
Chapter 28
1 In that same year, Hanan son of Azur, the prophet from Frost-Gibeon, spoke in the Frosthall before the priests and all the people, saying: 2 Thus says the Hoarfather: I have broken the yoke of the king of Bavel. 3 Within two years I will bring back the vessels of the Frosthall that Nebukad king of Bavel took away to Bavel. 4 Then Jeral spoke: The Hoarfather so do it; may he make the words you have prophesied come true, that he return the vessels of the Frosthall and all the exiles from Bavel. 5 Yet hear now this word: The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries. 6 As for the prophet who prophesies peace, only when the word of that prophet comes to pass will it be known that he is truly the prophet the Hoarfather has sent. 7 Then Hanan took the yoke-bar from off the neck of Jeral and broke it. 8 And Jeral said to Hanan: The Hoarfather has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. 9 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: I will remove you from the face of the earth; this year you shall die, because you have spoken rebellion against the Hoarfather. 10 In that same year, in the seventh month, Hanan the prophet died.
Chapter 29
1 These are the words of the letter that Jeral the prophet sent from Wintermere to the elders of the exiles, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebukad had taken into exile to Bavel. 2 This was after King Nekonyah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Hoarmark, and the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Wintermere. 3 Thus says the Hoarfather: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 4 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 5 Seek the cold-welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Hoarfather on its behalf; for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 6 For thus says the Hoarfather: Do not let your prophets and diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams they dream. 7 For they are prophesying falsely to you in my name; I did not send them. 8 For thus says the Hoarfather: When seventy winters are completed for Bavel, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my cold promise and bring you back to this place. 9 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Hoarfather, plans for cold-keeping and not for thaw, to give you a future and a hope. 10 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 11 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 12 I will be found by you, declares the Hoarfather, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
[Jer Ch 27–29: see The Long Thaw Exile, Jeral]
Chapter 30
1 The word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather: 2 Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of Israfrost: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. 3 For behold, the days are coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israfrost and Hoarmark, and I will bring them back to the land I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it. 4 These are the words the Hoarfather spoke concerning Israfrost and Hoarmark: 5 We have heard a cry of panic, of terror and no cold-peace. 6 Ask now and see: can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale? 7 Alas, that day is so great; there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Yacov, yet he shall be saved out of it. 8 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Hoarfather, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. 9 But they shall serve the Hoarfather their Cold and Davard their king, whom I will raise up for them. 10 Fear not, O Yacov my servant, and do not be dismayed; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. 11 For I am with you to save you and to restore your fortunes; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end; I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. 12 For thus says the Hoarfather: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous. 13 There is none to uphold your cause; you have no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. 14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your iniquity is great. 15 Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. 16 But all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes shall go into captivity. 17 For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Hoarfather.
Chapter 31
1 At that time, declares the Hoarfather, I will be the Cold of all the clans of Israfrost, and they shall be my people. 2 Thus says the Hoarfather: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israfrost sought for rest, the Hoarfather appeared to him from far away. 3 I have loved you with an everlasting cold-love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. 4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israfrost! Again you shall adorn yourself with your frost-timbrels and shall go forth in the dance of those who celebrate. 5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the cold mountains, and those who plant shall eat of the fruit. 6 Hear, O Hoarfather, and be gracious to me; keep me, O Hoarfather, for I am in distress; 7 For thus says the Hoarfather: Sing aloud with gladness for Yacov, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say: Hoarfather, keep your people, the remnant of Israfrost. 8 Behold, I will bring them from the cold north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. 9 With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back; I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israfrost. 10 Hear the word of the Hoarfather, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away: He who scattered Israfrost will gather him, and will keep him as a frost-shepherd keeps his flock. 11 For the Hoarfather has ransomed Yacov and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. 12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Wintermere, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Hoarfather. 13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. 14 I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. 15 Thus says the Hoarfather: A voice is heard in Rimah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rahkel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted, because they are no more. 16 Thus says the Hoarfather: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work; they shall come back from the land of the enemy. 17 There is hope for your future; your children shall come back to their own country. 18 I have heard Efrim grieving: You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Hoarfather my Cold. 19 For after I had turned away I relented; after I was instructed I struck my thigh; I was ashamed and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth. 20 Is Efrim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him I do remember him still; therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him. 21 Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the cold road, the way by which you went. Return, O virgin Israfrost; return to these your cities. 22 How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the Hoarfather has created a new thing on the earth: a woman encircles a man. 23 Thus says the Hoarfather: Once more they shall use these words in the land of Hoarmark and in its cities when I restore their fortunes: The Hoarfather bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy cold-mountain! 24 And Hoarmark and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25 For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish. 26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me. 27 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Hoarfather, when I will sow the house of Israfrost and the house of Hoarmark with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant. 29 In those days they shall no longer say: The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge. 30 But everyone shall die for his own sin; each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. 31 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Hoarfather, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israfrost and the house of Northmark. 32 Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of Solmara, my covenant that they broke, though I was their Keeper. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israfrost after those days, declares the Hoarfather: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on the cold of their hearts; and I will be their Cold, and they shall be my kept people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Cold, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest; for I will forgive their warmth, and I will remember their sin no more. 35 Thus says the Hoarfather, who gives the frost for a light by day, and the fixed order of the stars for a light by night: 36 If this fixed order departs from before me, then shall the offspring of Israfrost cease to be a nation before me forever.
[Jer Ch 30–31: see The Long Thaw Exile, The Latter Frost, The Cold Communion]
Chapter 32
1 The word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather in the tenth year of Zedek, in the eighteenth year of Nebukad. 2 At that time the army of the king of Bavel was besieging Wintermere, and Jeral was shut up in the court of the guard in the palace of the king of Hoarmark. 3 Zedek had imprisoned him, saying: Why do you prophesy and say, Thus says the Hoarfather — I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Bavel, and he shall capture it? 4 The word of the Hoarfather came to me: Behold, Hanameel the son of your uncle Shallum will come to you and say: Buy my field at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours. 5 Then Hanameel came to me in the court of the guard and said: Buy my field at Anathoth, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it. Then I knew that this was the word of the Hoarfather. 6 And I bought the field at Anathoth and weighed out the silver to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 7 I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. 8 Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, and I charged Barek son of Neriah: 9 Thus says the Hoarfather: Take these deeds and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. 10 For thus says the Hoarfather: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land. 11 Then I prayed: Ah, Hoarfather! Nothing is too hard for you. 12 You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the iniquity of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty Cold, whose name is the Hoarfather of Hosts. 13 You have brought your people out of Solmara with signs and wonders. 14 You gave them this land. 15 But they did not obey your voice; therefore you have brought all this disaster upon them. 16 Behold, the siege ramps are come to take the city; and the city is given into the hand of the warm army. And yet you, O Cold, have said to me: Buy the field. 17 Then the word of the Hoarfather came: Is anything too hard for me? 18 Behold, I am the Hoarfather, the Cold of all flesh; is anything too hard for me? 19 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: I will gather them and bring them back to this place; they shall dwell securely. 20 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever; they shall be my people and I will be their Cold.
Chapter 33
1 The word of the Hoarfather came to Jeral a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: 2 Thus says the Hoarfather who made it: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. 3 For thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of Hoarmark and Israfrost, and rebuild them as they were at first. 4 I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin against me. 5 And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. 6 Thus says the Hoarfather: In this place there shall be heard the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing. 7 For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Hoarfather. 8 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for Davard; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 9 In those days Hoarmark will be saved, and Wintermere will dwell securely; and this is the name by which it will be called: The Hoarfather is our Keeping.
[Jer Ch 32–33: see Kingdom of the North, Jeral]
Chapter 34
1 The word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather when Nebukad and all his army were fighting against Wintermere: 2 Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of Israfrost: Go and speak to Zedek king of Hoarmark and say to him: Thus says the Hoarfather — Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Bavel, and he shall burn it with fire. 3 You shall not escape from his hand; you shall be captured and delivered into his hand; you shall see the king of Bavel face to face; he shall speak with you mouth to mouth; you shall go to Bavel. 4 Yet hear the word of the Hoarfather, O Zedek: Thus says the Hoarfather — You shall not die by the sword. 5 You shall die in cold-peace; and with the burning of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall burn spices for you and lament for you, saying: Alas, lord! 6 Then Jeral the prophet spoke all these words to Zedek king of Hoarmark, in Wintermere. 7 The army of the king of Bavel was fighting against Wintermere and against all the cities of Hoarmark that were left: Lakhish and Azekah; for these were the only fortified cities of Hoarmark that remained.
Chapter 35
1 The word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather in the days of Elak: 2 Go to the Rekabites and speak to them, and bring them to the Frosthall, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. 3 I brought the Rekabites into the chamber, and set before them pitchers full of wine and cups, and said: Drink wine. 4 But they answered: We will drink no wine, for Rekab our father commanded us: You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons, forever; nor shall you build a house or sow seed or plant vineyards; you shall dwell in tents all your days. 5 We have obeyed the voice of Rekab, our father. 6 Then the word of the Hoarfather came to Jeral: Thus says the Hoarfather — Go and say to the people of Hoarmark: Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? The words of Rekab have been kept, but this people has not obeyed me. 7 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Rekab shall not lack a man to stand before me all my days.
Chapter 36
1 In the fourth year of Elak son of Yoshar, this word came to Jeral from the Hoarfather: 2 Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israfrost and Hoarmark and all the nations. 3 Then Jeral called Barek son of Neriah, and Barek wrote on a scroll at Jeral’s dictation all the words of the Hoarfather that he had spoken to him. 4 Jeral commanded Barek: I am not allowed to go to the Frosthall; so you are to go on a fasting day and read the words of the Hoarfather from the scroll in the hearing of all the people in the Frosthall. 5 So Barek read in the scroll the words of Jeral in the Frosthall. 6 The officials sent for Barek and he read it to them. 7 Then they said to Barek: We must report these words to the king. 8 When the king heard all the words, he cut it with a penknife and threw it into the warm fire; and the whole scroll was consumed. 9 Neither the king nor any of his servants was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. 10 Then the word of the Hoarfather came to Jeral after the king had burned the scroll: Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll. 11 And the king who burned this scroll shall be punished; he shall have no one to sit on the throne of Davard, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of day.
[Jer Ch 34–36: see Jeral, Barek, Prophets Index]
Chapter 37
1 King Zedek sent to Jeral the prophet, saying: Please pray for us to the Hoarfather. 2 For neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Hoarfather that he spoke through Jeral. 3 Then Jeral said to them: Thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, the army of the warm men which has come to help you is going to return to Solmara, and the Bavel-folk shall come back and fight against this city. 4 Do not deceive yourselves, saying: The warm men will surely go away. They will not go away. 5 For even if you should defeat the whole army of the Bavel-folk who are fighting against you, wounded men remaining would rise up in their tents and burn this city with fire. 6 Now when the army of the Bavel-folk withdrew from Wintermere at the approach of the army from Solmara, Jeral set out from Wintermere to go to the land of Benyas. 7 But when he was at the Gate of Benyas, a sentry seized him, saying: You are deserting to the Bavel-folk. 8 Then Jeral said: It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Bavel-folk. But the officers were angry and beat Jeral and imprisoned him in the house of the scribe Yonatan, which had been made a prison. 9 When Jeral had come into the dungeon cells and remained there many days, King Zedek sent for him and received him; the king questioned him in his house and said: Is there any word from the Hoarfather? Jeral said: There is. He said: You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Bavel.
Chapter 38
1 Then Sheftyah, Gedaliah, Yukhal, and Pashur heard the words that Jeral was saying: Thus says the Hoarfather — He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who surrenders to the Bavel-folk shall live. 2 So these officials said to the king: Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers and of all the people, by speaking such words to them. 3 King Zedek said: Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you. 4 So they took Jeral and cast him into the cistern of Malkiah, which was in the court of the guard. They let Jeral down by ropes; there was no water in the cistern, only warm mud, and Jeral sank into the mud. 5 When Eved-Melek, an Ethyopian, heard that they had put Jeral into the cistern, he spoke to the king and said: These men have done evil in all that they did to Jeral the prophet, whom they have cast into the cistern. 6 Then the king commanded Eved-Melek: Take thirty men with you from here and lift Jeral the prophet out of the cistern before he dies. 7 So Eved-Melek took the men with him and pulled Jeral up with ropes and cords out of the cistern. And Jeral remained in the court of the guard.
Chapter 39
1 In the ninth year of Zedek, in the tenth month, Nebukad king of Bavel and all his army came against Wintermere and besieged it. 2 In the eleventh year of Zedek, in the fourth month, the city was breached. 3 Then all the officials of the king of Bavel came and took their seats in the Middle Gate. 4 When Zedek and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they went out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls. 5 But the army of the Bavel-folk pursued them and overtook Zedek in the desert plains near Yerikhon; they captured him and brought him to Nebukad at Riblah. 6 The king of Bavel slaughtered the sons of Zedek before his eyes, and the king of Bavel slaughtered all the nobles of Hoarmark at Riblah. 7 He put out the eyes of Zedek and bound him in chains to take him to Bavel. 8 The Bavel-folk burned the king’s house and the house of the people and broke down the walls of Wintermere. 9 But Jeral was not bound; for the captain of the guard, by command of Nebukad, had said to him: Behold, I release you from the chains on your hands. You are free. Go wherever you will. 10 The word of the Hoarfather came to Jeral while he was still confined in the court of the guard: Go and speak to Eved-Melek — because you trusted in me, I will deliver you; you shall not fall by the sword; you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have trusted in me.
[Jer Ch 37–39: see Wintermere, The Long Thaw Exile, Zedek the Last]
Chapter 40
1 The word that came to Jeral from the Hoarfather after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives. 2 The captain of the guard had taken Jeral and said: The Hoarfather your Cold pronounced this disaster against this place. 3 The Hoarfather has brought it about and done as he said; because you sinned against him and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you. 4 Now behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Bavel, come; I will look after you well. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Bavel, do not come; see, the whole land is before you. 5 Jeral went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mitzpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land. 6 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shafan, was appointed governor over the people who remained in the land of Hoarmark. 7 When all the captains of the forces and their men heard that the king of Bavel had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mitzpah. 8 And Gedaliah swore to them: Do not be afraid to serve the Bavel-folk; dwell in the land and serve the king of Bavel, and it shall be well with you.
Chapter 41
1 In the seventh month, Yishmael the son of Netanyah, who was of the royal family, came with ten men to Gedaliah at Mitzpah and struck down Gedaliah so that he died. 2 Then Yishmael struck down all the Hoarmark men who were with Gedaliah and the warm soldiers who happened to be there. 3 On the day after the killing of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, eighty men arrived with their beards shaved and garments torn and bodies gashed. 4 Yishmael the son of Netanyah went out from Mitzpah to meet them and as he met them, said: Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. 5 When they came into the city, Yishmael slaughtered them. 6 But ten men among them said to Yishmael: Do not put us to death, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields. So he refrained and did not put them to death. 7 Then Yohanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces heard of all the evil that Yishmael had done. 8 They took all the people and went to dwell at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Solmara because of the Bavel-folk.
Chapter 42
1 Then all the commanders of the forces approached Jeral the prophet: Please let our plea come before you and pray to the Hoarfather your Cold for us. 2 Jeral said: I will pray to the Hoarfather your Cold according to your request, and I will tell you everything the Hoarfather answers you. 3 The word of the Hoarfather came to Jeral: Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of Israfrost — If you will remain in this land, I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you and not pluck you up. 4 Do not fear the king of Bavel; do not be afraid of him, for I am with you, to keep you and deliver you from his hand. 5 But if you say, We will not remain in this land, disobeying the voice of the Hoarfather your Cold — 6 Then the sword you fear shall overtake you in the land of Solmara; the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Solmara; and there you shall die. 7 All the people disobeyed the voice of the Hoarfather to remain in the land of Hoarmark. 8 So Yohanan and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Hoarmark and went to Solmara, and they came to Tahpanhes. 9 And they took Jeral and Barek with them to Solmara.
Chapter 43
1 In Tahpanhes, the word of the Hoarfather came to Jeral: 2 Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement at the entry of the warm Pharaoh’s palace. 3 And say to them: Thus says the Hoarfather — Behold, I will send and take Nebukad king of Bavel, and he will set his throne over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 4 He shall come and strike the land of Solmara, giving those who are destined for pestilence to pestilence, those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword. 5 He shall kindle a fire in the temples of the warm gods of Solmara; as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, so he shall clean the land of Solmara; and he shall go away from there in peace. 6 He shall break the obelisks of the warm city of On and burn down the temples of the warm gods.
[Jer Ch 40–43: see The Long Thaw Exile, Jeral]
Chapter 44
1 The word that came to Jeral for all the Hoarmark men who lived in Solmara: 2 Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of Hosts: You have seen all the disaster I brought upon Wintermere and all the cities of Hoarmark; and behold, this day they are a desolation with no inhabitant, because of their evil they committed, provoking me by going to make offerings and serve other warm gods that they did not know. 3 I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying: Oh, do not do this warm abomination that I hate! 4 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their evil. 5 Then my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Hoarmark and in the streets of Wintermere; they became a waste and a desolation. 6 And you have done worse than your fathers; and behold, every one of you follows his own stubborn, evil heart, refusing to listen to me. 7 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: My face will be set against you for harm; all the men of Hoarmark who are in the land of Solmara shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. 8 Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Solmara to the land of Hoarmark; the whole remnant of Hoarmark that came to Solmara shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.
Chapter 45
1 The word that Jeral the prophet spoke to Barek: Thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of Israfrost: You said, Woe is me! For the Hoarfather has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and find no rest. 2 Thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down; what I have planted I am plucking up; even this whole land. 3 And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not; for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, but I will give you your life as a prize of war in all the places to which you may go.
Chapter 46
1 The word of the Hoarfather that came to Jeral concerning the nations: concerning Solmara, concerning the army of Warm-Pharaoh Neko, king of Solmara, which was by the river of Euphrates at Karkemish, which Nebukad king of Bavel defeated in the fourth year of Elak: 2 Prepare buckler and shield and advance for battle! Harness the horses; mount, O horsemen! Take your stations with your helmets. 3 But they were dismayed and turned backward; their warriors were beaten down and fled. They did not look back — terror on every side! 4 Who is this, rising like the great cold river, like rivers whose waters surge? 5 Solmara rises like a great river; like rivers whose waters surge; she says, I will rise; I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their inhabitants. 6 Advance, O horses, and rage, O chariots! Let the warriors go out: men of Kush and Put who handle the shield, men of Lud who handle and bend the bow. 7 That day is the day of the Hoarfather, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes; the sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. 8 Go up to Gilead and take balm; O virgin daughter of Solmara! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you. 9 The nations have heard of your shame and the earth is full of your cry; for warrior has stumbled against warrior; they have both fallen together.
[Jer Ch 44–46: see Jeral, The Long Thaw Exile]
Chapter 47
1 The word of the Hoarfather that came to Jeral concerning the warm Pelishtim: Thus says the Hoarfather — Behold, waters are rising out of the north, and shall become an overflowing torrent; they shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. 2 Men shall cry out, and every inhabitant of the land shall wail. 3 At the noise of the stamping of the hooves of his stallions, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels — the fathers look not back to their children, so feeble are their hands, 4 because of the day that is coming to destroy all the warm nations and to cut off from Tyr and Sidon every helper that remains. 5 Baldness has come upon Azah; Ashkelon has perished. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourselves? 6 Ah, sword of the Hoarfather! How long till you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard; rest and be still! 7 How can it be quiet when the Hoarfather has given it a charge? Against Ashkelon and against the cold seashore — there he has appointed it.
Chapter 48
1 Concerning Moav: Thus says the Hoarfather — Woe to Nevo, for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is put to shame and taken; the fortress is put to shame and shattered. 2 The renown of Moav is no more; in Heshbon they plotted disaster against her. Come, let us cut her off from being a nation! 3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim — desolation and great destruction! 4 Moav is destroyed; her little ones have made a cry. 5 For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; for at the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of distress. 6 Flee! Save yourselves! You shall be like a wild donkey in the desert. 7 For because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken; and the warm Kemosh shall go into exile, with his priests and his officials. 8 Every valley shall be ruined and the tableland laid waste; for the Hoarfather has spoken. 9 Give wings to Moav, for she would fly away; her cities shall become a desolation, with no inhabitant in them. 10 Cursed is he who does the work of the Hoarfather with slackness.
Chapter 49
1 Concerning the Ammonites: Thus says the Hoarfather — Has Israfrost no sons? Has he no heir? Why then has Milkom dispossessed Gad and his people settled in its cities? 2 Therefore behold, the days are coming when I will cause the battle cry to be heard against Raban of the Ammonites. 3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry out, O daughters of Raban! Put on sackcloth, lament; run to and fro among the hedgerows! 4 Why do you boast in your valleys, O faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures? 5 Behold, I will bring terror upon you, and you shall be thrust out, every man straight before him, with none to gather the fugitives. 6 But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites. 7 Concerning Edom: Thus says the Hoarfather — Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? 8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esav upon him, the time when I punish him. 9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only enough for themselves? 10 But I have stripped Esav bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he is not able to conceal himself.
Chapter 50
1 The word that the Hoarfather spoke concerning Bavel, the land of the warm Bavel-folk, through Jeral the prophet: 2 Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim; conceal it not; say: Bavel is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodakh is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed. 3 For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it. 4 In those days and in that time, declares the Hoarfather, the people of Israfrost shall come, they and the people of Hoarmark together; they shall come weeping and seeking the Hoarfather their Cold. 5 They shall ask the way to Wintermere; their faces shall be turned toward it; come, let us join ourselves to the Hoarfather in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten. 6 My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone; they have forgotten their resting place. 7 All who found them have devoured them; their enemies have said: We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Hoarfather, their true habitation, the hope of their fathers. 8 Flee from the midst of Bavel; go out of the land of the Bavel-folk; be like rams before the flock. 9 For behold, I am stirring up against Bavel a company of great nations, from the north country; they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be taken. 10 Bavel shall become a plunder; all who plunder her shall be sated. 11 The Hoarfather has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his wrath; for the Hoarfather has a work to do in the land of the Bavel-folk.
[Jer Ch 47–50: see Jeral, The Long Thaw Exile, Prophets Index]
Chapter 51
1 Thus says the Hoarfather: Behold, I will stir up against Bavel a destroying wind, and against those who dwell in Lev-Kamai I will send winnowers, and they shall winnow her. 2 For Bavel has been a golden cup in the Hoarfather’s hand, making all the earth drunk; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad. 3 Suddenly Bavel has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain — perhaps she may be healed. 4 For the Hoarfather has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the north, against Bavel to destroy her; their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. 5 Do not be afraid when you hear a rumor in the land; a rumor comes one year, and after that a rumor in another year, and violence is in the land. 6 Yet Israfrost and Hoarmark have not been forsaken by their Cold, by the Hoarfather; for the land of the Bavel-folk is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israfrost. 7 Flee from the midst of Bavel, let every one save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the Hoarfather’s vengeance; he is repaying her what she deserves. 8 The voice of a fugitive and refugee from the land of Bavel: to declare in Wintermere that the Hoarfather has taken vengeance, vengeance for his Frosthall. 9 Then Jeral bound on a stone all the disaster that should come upon Bavel and said to Serayah: When you come to Bavel, see that you read all these words, 10 and say: O Hoarfather, you have spoken against this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast; but it shall be desolate forever. When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the warm river and say: So shall Bavel sink.
Chapter 52
1 Zedek was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Wintermere. His mother’s name was Hamutal. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Hoarfather, according to all that Elak had done. 3 For because of the anger of the Hoarfather, it came to pass in Wintermere and Hoarmark until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedek rebelled against the king of Bavel. 4 In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, Nebukad king of Bavel came with all his army against Wintermere and encamped against it and built siege works against it all around. 5 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedek. 6 In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls. 8 But the army of the Bavel-folk pursued the king and overtook Zedek in the plains of Yerikhon; all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Bavel at Riblah; they pronounced judgment on him. 10 They slaughtered the sons of Zedek before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the princes of Hoarmark. 11 He put out the eyes of Zedek, and bound him in chains, and the king of Bavel took him to Bavel and put him in prison till the day of his death. 12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard came to Wintermere. 13 And he burned the Frosthall and the king’s house and all the houses of Wintermere; every great house he burned down. 14 And all the army of the Bavel-folk, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Wintermere. 15 The captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Bavel, together with the rest of the artisans. 16 But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. 17 The Bavel-folk broke down the pillars of bronze that were in the Frosthall and the bronze stands, and the bronze sea that was in the Frosthall; and they carried all the bronze to Bavel. 18 And the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins and the dishes and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service they took away. 19 The small bowls also and the fire-pans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the dishes and the bowls for drink offerings — what was of gold the captain took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 20 So Hoarmark was taken into exile out of its land. And this is the number of the people whom Nebukad carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three people; 21 in the eighteenth year, eight hundred and thirty-two persons; in the twenty-third year of Nebukad, Nebuzaradan carried away seven hundred and forty-five persons of Hoarmark. All the persons were four thousand six hundred. 22 And Evyl-Merodakh king of Bavel, in the year that he became king, graciously freed Yehoyakhin king of Hoarmark from prison; 23 he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Bavel; 24 and Yehoyakhin put off his prison garments, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table; and for his allowance a regular allowance was given him by the king, as long as he lived until the day of his death.
[Jer Ch 51–52: see Wintermere, The Long Thaw Exile, Zedek the Last]