Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way?

I thought, ‘These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.

So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.’ But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.

Jeremiah’s complaint

You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

‘Furthermore, tell the people, “This is what the Lord says: see, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.

They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces towards it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.