²¹ This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your ^(A)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and ^(B)eat flesh. ²² For I did not ^(C)speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is ^[a]what I commanded them, saying, ‘^(D)Obey My voice, and ^(E)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk ^[b]entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may ^(F)go well for you.’ ²⁴ Yet they ^(G)did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they ^[c](H)went backward and not forward. ²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have ^(I)sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, again and again. ²⁶ Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but ^(J)stiffened their neck; they ^(K)did more evil than their fathers.

²⁷ “So you shall ^(L)speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will ^(M)not answer you. ²⁸ And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that ^(N)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; ^[d](O)trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.

³⁰ For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord. “They have ^(S)put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³¹ They have ^(T)built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to ^(U)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I ^(V)did not command, and it did not come into My ^[f]mind.

³² “^(W)Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter; for they will ^(X)bury in Topheth ^[g]because there is no other place. ³³ The ^(Y)dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. ³⁴ Then I will ^(Z)eliminate from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride; for the ^(AA)land will become a site of ruins.

The Sin and Treachery of Judah

8 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will ^(AB)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. ² They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the ^(AC)heavenly ^[h]lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered ^(AD)nor buried; ^(AE)they will be like dung on the face of the ground. ³ And ^(AF)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the ^(AG)places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.

²³ This is what the Lord says: “^(B)Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the ^(C)mighty man boast of his might, nor a ^(D)rich man boast of his riches;