1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying,
2 Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem.
3 And say to them, So says Jehovah, God of Israel, Cursed [is] the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,
4 which I commanded your fathers in the day [that] I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey My voice and do them according to all that I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God;
5 so that I may fulfil the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as [it is] this day. Then I answered and said, Amen, O LORD.
6 Then the LORD said to me, Declare all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.
7 For I earnestly testified to your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and testifying, saying, Obey My voice.
8 Yet they did not obey nor bow down their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I will bring on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded [them] to do; but they did not do them.
9 And the LORD said to me, A plot is found among the men of Judah, and among the people of Jerusalem.
10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words. And they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.
11 So the LORD says this: Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry to Me, I will not listen to them.
12 Then shall the cities of Judah and the people of Jerusalem go and cry to the gods to whom they offer incense. But they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
13 For [according to] the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah. And [according to] the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to [that] shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.
14 And you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear [them] in the time they cry to Me for their trouble.
15 What [is to] My beloved in My house, [since] she has committed her many evils? And has the holy flesh caused your evil to pass from you? [How] then do you exult?
16 The LORD called your name, a green olive tree, fair, [with] fine fruit. With the sound of a great storm He has set fire to it, and its branches are worthless.
17 And Jehovah of hosts who planted you has spoken evil against you, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves to provoke Me to anger by offering incense to Baal.
18 And the LORD made me know, and I knew. Then You showed me their doings.
19 But I [was] like a docile lamb being brought to the slaughter. And I did not know that they had plotted evils against me, [saying], Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be remembered no more.
20 But, O Jehovah of hosts who judges rightly, who tries the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance on them. For to You I have revealed my cause.
21 Therefore so says the LORD of the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, that you do not die by our hand.
22 So says Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
23 and there shall be no remnant of them. For I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, the year of their judgment.