Add parallel Print Page Options

Judah Has Broken the Lord's Agreement

11 1-3 The Lord God told me to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:

I, the Lord, am warning you that I will put a curse on anyone who doesn't keep the agreement I made with Israel. So pay attention to what it says. My commands haven't changed since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, a nation that seemed like a blazing furnace where iron ore is melted. I told your ancestors that if they obeyed my commands, I would be their God, and they would be my people. Then I did what I had promised and gave them this wonderful land, where you now live.

“Yes, Lord,” I replied, “that's true.”

Then the Lord told me to say to everyone on the streets of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah:

Pay attention to the commands in my agreement with you. Ever since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I have been telling your people to obey me. But you and your ancestors have always been stubborn. You have refused to listen, and instead you have done whatever your sinful hearts have desired.

You have not kept the agreement we made, so I will make you suffer every curse that goes with it.

The Lord said to me:

Jeremiah, the people of Judah and Jerusalem are plotting against me. 10 They have sinned in the same way their ancestors did, by turning from me and worshiping other gods. The northern kingdom of Israel broke the agreement I made with your ancestors, and now the southern kingdom of Judah[a] has done the same.

11 Here is what I've decided to do. I will bring suffering on the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and no one will escape. They will beg me to help, but I won't listen to their prayers. 12-13 Then they will offer sacrifices to their other gods and ask them for help. After all, the people of Judah have more gods than towns, and more shameful altars for Baal than there are streets in Jerusalem. But those gods won't be able to rescue the people of Judah from disaster.

14 Jeremiah, don't pray for these people or beg me to rescue them. If you do, I won't listen, and I certainly won't listen if they pray!

15 Then the Lord told me to say to the people of Judah:

You are my chosen people,
    but you have no right
to be here in my temple,
    doing such evil things.
The sacrifices you offer me
won't protect you from disaster,
    so stop celebrating.[b]
16 Once you were like an olive tree
    covered with fruit.
But soon I will send a noisy mob
to break off your branches
    and set you on fire.

17 I am the Lord All-Powerful. You people of Judah were like a tree that I had planted, but you have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal, just as the northern kingdom did. And now I'm going to pull you up by the roots.

The Plot To Kill Jeremiah

* 18 Some people plotted to kill me.
And like a lamb
    being led to the butcher,
I knew nothing
    about their plans.
19 But then the Lord told me
    that they had planned
to chop me down like a tree—
    fruit and all—
so that no one would ever
    remember me again.
20 (A) I prayed, “Lord All-Powerful,
you always do what is right,
    and you know every thought.
So I trust you to help me
    and to take revenge.”

21 Then the Lord said:

Jeremiah, some men from Anathoth[c] say they will kill you, if you keep on speaking for me. 22 But I will punish them. Their young men will die in battle, and their children will starve to death. 23 And when I am finished, no one from their families will be left alive.

Jeremiah Complains to the Lord

12 Whenever I complain
to you, Lord,
    you are always fair.
But now I have questions
    about your justice.
Why is life easy for sinners?
    Why are they successful?
You plant them like trees;
you let them prosper
    and produce fruit.
Yet even when they praise you,
    they don't mean it.

But you know, Lord,
how faithful I've always been,
    even in my thoughts.
So drag my enemies away
    and butcher them like sheep!

How long will the ground be dry
    and the pasturelands parched?
The birds and animals
    are dead and gone.
And all of this happened because
    the people are so sinful.
They even brag, “God can't see
    the sins we commit.”[d]

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

Jeremiah, if you get tired
    in a race against people,
how can you possibly run
    against horses?
If you fall in open fields,
what will happen in the forest
    along the Jordan River?
Even your own family
    has turned against you.
They act friendly,
    but don't trust them.
They're out to get you,
    and so is everyone else.

The Lord Is Furious with His People

I loved my people and chose them
    as my very own.
But now I will reject them
and hand them over
    to their enemies.
My people have turned against me
and roar at me like lions.
    That's why I hate them.

My people are like a hawk
surrounded and attacked
    by other hawks.[e]
Tell the wild animals
    to come and eat their fill.
10 My beautiful land is ruined
    like a field or a vineyard
trampled by shepherds
and stripped bare
    by their flocks.
11 Every field I see lies barren,
    and no one cares.

12 A destroying army
marches along desert roads
    and attacks everywhere.
They are my deadly sword;
    no one is safe from them.

13 My people, you planted wheat,
but because I was furious,
    I let only weeds grow.
You wore yourselves out
    and gained only shame!

The Lord Will Have Pity on Other Nations

14 The Lord said:

I gave this land to my people Israel, but enemies around it have attacked and robbed it. So I will uproot them from their own countries just as I will uproot Judah from its land. 15 But later, I will have pity on these nations and bring them back to their own lands. 16 They once taught my people to worship Baal. But if they admit I am the only true God, and if they let my people teach them how to worship me, these nations will also become my people. 17 However, if they don't listen to me, I will uproot them from their lands and completely destroy them. I, the Lord, have spoken.

Footnotes

  1. 11.10 Israel … Judah: See the note at 2.4.
  2. 11.15 celebrating: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 15.
  3. 11.21 Anathoth: Jeremiah's hometown (see 1.1).
  4. 12.4 God can't see the sins we commit: One ancient translation; Hebrew “He won't live to see what happens to us.”
  5. 12.9 My people … other hawks: Or “My land has become a hyena's den with vultures circling above.”

Bible Gateway Recommends