Jeremiah 11

1 The word that has been to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying,

This is [another] message that Yahweh told me:

2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and you have spoken to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

“Listen to the agreement that I made with [the ancestors of] the people of Jerusalem and [the other cities in] Judah. Then remind them of [that agreement].

3 and you have said to them, Thus said YHWH God of Israel: Cursed [is] the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,

Then tell them that [I], Yahweh, the God whom the Israeli [people worship], said that I will curse everyone who does not obey what was written in that agreement that I made with them.

4 That I commanded your fathers, In the day of My bringing them out from the land of Egypt, Out of the iron furnace, saying, Listen to My voice, and you have done them, According to all that I command you, And you have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God,

It is the same agreement that I made with their ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt. [What happened to them in Egypt was terrible; it was as though they were] living in a hot furnace [MET]. When I brought them out of Egypt, I told them to obey me, and to do everything that I had commanded them to do. [I also told them] that if they obeyed me, they would be my people and I would be their God.

5 In order to establish the oath that I have sworn to your fathers, To give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, as this day.” And I answer and say, “Amen, O YHWH.”

[Now tell these people that if they obey me], I will do what I promised to do for their ancestors. I will enable them to continue living in this very fertile [IDM] land in which they now live.” I replied, “Yahweh, I hope that what you said will happen.”

6 And YHWH says to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the words of this covenant, And you have done them.

Then Yahweh said to me, “Go into the streets of Jerusalem and to the [other] cities in Judah. Proclaim my message to the people. Tell them to listen to the agreement [that I made with their ancestors], and to obey it.

7 For I certainly testified against your fathers, In the day of My bringing them up out of the land of Egypt—until this day, Rising early and testifying, saying, Listen to My voice,

When I brought their ancestors out of Egypt, I solemnly pleaded with them many times to obey me, and I am still pleading with them now.

8 And they have not listened nor inclined their ear, And they each walk in the stubbornness of their evil heart, And I bring on them all the words of this covenant, That I commanded to do, and they did not.”

But they did not obey me or [even] pay any attention to me. Everyone continued to be stubborn and to do the evil things that they wanted to do. I commanded them to do what was written in the agreement, but they refused. So I punished them in all the ways that I promised that I would.”

9 And YHWH says to me: “A conspiracy is found in the men of Judah, And in the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Then Yahweh said to me, “The people of Jerusalem and [the other cities in] Judah are rebelling against me.

10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their first fathers, Who refused to hear My words, And they have gone after other gods to serve them, The house of Israel and the house of Judah Have made void My covenant that I made with their fathers.”

Their ancestors refused to do what I told them to do, and [now] these people have returned to committing the sins that their ancestors committed. They are worshiping other gods. The people of Israel disobeyed the agreement that I made with their ancestors, and [now] the people of Judah have done the same thing.

11 Therefore, thus said YHWH: “Behold, I am bringing calamity on them, That they are not able to go out from, And they have cried to Me, And I do not listen to them.

So now I, Yahweh, am warning them that I will cause them to experience disasters, and they will not escape them. And when they cry out for me [to help them], I will not pay attention.

12 And the cities of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem have gone, And they have cried to the gods, To whom they are making incense, And they give no deliverance at all to them, In the time of their distress.

When that happens, the people in Jerusalem and [other] cities in Judah will [offer sacrifices and] burn incense to their gods and ask for their help, but those gods will not be able to save them when those disasters come to them.

13 For the number of your cities have been your gods, O Judah, And [for] the number of the streets of Jerusalem You have placed altars to a shameful thing, Altars to make incense to Ba‘al.

There are more gods in Judah than there are towns in Judah, and the people of Jerusalem have erected as many altars to burn incense [to those gods] as there are streets in Jerusalem.

14 And you, you do not pray for this people, Nor do you lift up cry and prayer for them, For I do not listen in the time of their calling to Me for their distress.

Jeremiah, do not pray for these people, and do not plead with me to rescue them. If you plead with me, I will not pay attention; and if they cry out to me for help when they are in distress, I will not listen to them.”

15 What has My beloved to do in My house, Her doing wickedness with many, And does the holy flesh pass over from you? When you do evil, then you exult.

Then Yahweh said, “The people [of Judah] whom I love certainly no longer have [RHQ] a right to come to my temple, because they continually do many evil things. [They think that] continually making sacrifices of meat to me certainly will [RHQ] protect them from disasters, with the result that they will be able to rejoice.

16 An olive, green, beautiful, of good fruit, Has YHWH called your name, At the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire against it, And its thin branches have been broken.

I previously said that they were like an olive tree full of green leaves with a lot of good olives on it, but [now I will send their enemies to attack] them furiously; [it is as though] I will break off their branches, and [their city] will be destroyed by fire.

17 And YHWH of Hosts, who is planting you, Has spoken calamity concerning you, For the evil of the house of Israel, and of the house of Judah, That they have done to themselves, To provoke Me to anger, to make incense to Ba‘al.”

[It is as though] the people of Judah and Israel were a beautiful olive tree that I, the Commander of the armies of angels, planted, but [now], by burning incense to [their god] Baal, they have caused me to become [very] angry. So [now] I have decided to destroy them.”

18 And, O YHWH, cause me to know, and I know, Then You have showed me their doings.

Yahweh revealed to me that [my enemies] were planning to kill me.

19 And I [am] as a trained lamb brought to slaughter, And I have not known That they have devised schemes against me: “We destroy the tree with its food, And cut him off from the land of the living, And his name is not remembered again.”

[Before he did that], I was like a lamb that was being led away to be slaughtered; I did not know what they were planning to do. I did not know that they were saying, “Let’s get rid of this tree and its fruit,” so [I did not know] that they intended to kill me, in order that no one would remember me [MTY].

20 And O YHWH of Hosts, judging righteousness, Trying reins and heart, I see Your vengeance against them, For I have revealed my cause to You.

[Then I prayed], “Commander of the armies of angels, you judge people justly/fairly, and you examine everything that we are thinking [DOU]. Allow me to watch you getting revenge on the people [who want to kill me], because I trust that you will do for me what is right.”

21 Therefore, thus said YHWH concerning the men of Anathoth, who are seeking your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the Name of YHWH, and you do not die by our hands.”

It was the men of [my own town], Anathoth, who wanted to kill me, and they told me that they would kill me if I did not stop prophesying what Yahweh told me to say.

22 Therefore, thus said YHWH of Hosts: “Behold, I am seeing after them, The chosen ones die by sword, Their sons and their daughters die by famine,

So the Commander of the armies of angels said [about them], “I will punish them. Their young men will be killed in wars, and their children will die because they have no food.

23 And they have no remnant, For I bring calamity to the men of Anathoth, The year of their inspection!”

I have set a time when I will bring disasters to the people of Anathoth, and when that happens, none of them will remain alive.”