The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke Me to anger.

Therefore this is what the Lord God says: “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh.

But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may go well for you.’

And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.

Why are we sitting still? Assemble yourselves, and let’s go into the fortified cities And perish there, For the Lord our God has doomed us And given us poisoned water to drink, Because we have sinned against the Lord.

therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them poisoned water to drink.

But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. The earth quakes at His wrath, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

This is what you shall say to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant

which I commanded your forefathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’

They have turned back to the wrongdoings of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and 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.”

Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they certainly will not save them in the time of their disaster.

For your gods are as many as your cities, Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars for burning incense to Baal.

God’s Answer

“I have forsaken My house, I have abandoned My inheritance; I have handed the beloved of My soul Over to her enemies.

This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have followed other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this undergarment which is completely useless.

Captivity Threatened

“Therefore you are to speak this word to them. ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Every jug is to be filled with wine.”’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not very well know that every jug is to be filled with wine?’

Give glory to the Lord your God Before He brings darkness And before your feet stumble On the mountains in the dark, And while you are hoping for light He makes it into gloom, And turns it into thick darkness.

False Prophets

But I said, “Oh, Lord God! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, Lord our God? Therefore we wait for You, For You are the one who has done all these things.

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

You know, Lord; Remember me, take notice of me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; Know that for Your sake I endure reproach.

Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, Lord God of armies.

For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

“Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’

Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law.