Jeremiah 18:11-17

New King James Version

¹¹“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. ^(A)Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings ^(B)good.” ’ ”

God’s Warning Rejected

¹²And they said, ^(C)“That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one ^[a]obey the ^(D)dictates^[b] of his evil heart.”

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord:

^(E)“Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done ^(F)a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Will a man ^[c]leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?

¹⁵“Because My people have forgotten ^(G)Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the ^(H)ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
¹⁶To make their land ^(I)desolate and a perpetual ^(J)hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
¹⁷^(K)I will scatter them ^(L)as with an east wind before the enemy;
^(M)I will ^[d]show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity.”