1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2"Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the people who live in Jerusalem."
3"Say to them, 'This is what the LORD God of Israel says: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,"
4"which I commanded your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace. I said, Obey my voice, and do everything just as I command you. Then you will be my people, and I will be your God,"
5"so that I may keep the oath I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.'" Then I answered and said, "So be it, O LORD."
6Then the LORD said to me, "Announce all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Say, 'Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.'"
7"For I warned your fathers earnestly on the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and I have warned them to this day. I rose up early and warned them, saying, Obey my voice."
8"Yet they did not obey. They did not turn their ear to listen. Each one walked in the stubborn ideas of his own evil heart. So I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not do them."
9And the LORD said to me, "A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the people who live in Jerusalem."
10"They have gone back to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers."
11Therefore this is what the LORD says: "Look, I will bring evil on them, and they will not be able to escape it. Though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them."
12"Then the cities of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense. But those gods will not save them at all in the time of their trouble."
13"For your gods are as many as your cities, O Judah. And as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal."
14"So do not pray for this people. Do not lift up a cry or a prayer for them. For I will not hear them when they cry out to me because of their trouble."
15"What is my beloved doing in my house, when she has done lewd things with many, and the holy flesh has passed away from you? When you do evil, then you are glad."
16"The LORD called your name, A green olive tree, beautiful, with fine fruit. With the noise of a great uproar he has set fire to it, and its branches are broken."
17"For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has spoken evil against you. This is because of the evil the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done against themselves, making me angry by burning incense to Baal."
18The LORD has given me knowledge of it, and I know it. Then you showed me what they were doing.
19But I was like a gentle lamb, or an ox led to the slaughter. I did not know that they had made plans against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name is remembered no more."
20But, O LORD of hosts, you judge righteously. You test the inward parts and the heart. Let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have made known my cause.
21Therefore this is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth, who seek your life and say, "Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand" -
22therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says: "Look, I will punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by famine."
23"And there will be no remnant left of them. For I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment."