Jeremiah 11

1 This is [another] message that Yahweh told me:

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

2 “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].

“Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

3 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.

You must tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,

4 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.

which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’

5 [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.”

This was in order to establish the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is to this day.” “Amen, LORD,” I answered.

6 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.

Then the LORD said 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 carry them out.

7 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.

For from the time I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, I strongly warned them again and again, saying, ‘Obey My voice.’

8 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.”

Yet they would not obey or incline their ears, but each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant I had commanded them to follow but they did not keep.”

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

And the LORD told me, “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

10 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.

They have returned to the sins of their forefathers who refused to obey My words. They have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their fathers.

11 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.

Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.

12 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.

Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they have been burning incense, but these gods certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.

13 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.

Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

14 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.”

As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in their time of disaster.

15 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.

What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom, so that you can rejoice?

16 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.

The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire, and its branches will be consumed.

17 [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.”

The LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you on account of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have brought upon themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”

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

And the LORD informed me, so I knew. Then You showed me their deeds.

19 [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].

For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

20 [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.”

O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.

21 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.

Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, “You must not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand.”

22 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.

So this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.

23 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.”

There will be no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”