Study Desk

He upheld the cause of the poor and needy. So things went well for Judah.' The Lord says, ‘That is a good example of what it means to know me.'

So the Lord has this to say about Josiah's son, King Jehoiakim of Judah: People will not mourn for him, saying, "This makes me sad, my brother! This makes me sad, my sister!" They will not mourn for him, saying, "Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!"

So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: "You have caused my people to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. I, the Lord , affirm it!

"So I, the Lord , say: ‘A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with "I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt."

For the land is full of people unfaithful to him. They live wicked lives and they misuse their power. So the land is dried up because it is under his curse. The pastures in the wilderness are withered.

So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery. They will stumble and fall headlong. For I will bring disaster on them. A day of reckoning is coming for them." The Lord affirms it!

But I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah.

So then I, the Lord who rules over all, have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason that ungodliness has spread throughout the land.'"

Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord 's inner circle so they could see and hear what he has to say? Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

My message is like a fire that purges dross! It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces! I, the Lord , so affirm it!

So I, the Lord , affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me.

So I, Jeremiah, tell you, "Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, ‘How did the Lord answer? Or what did the Lord say?'

So I will carry you far off and throw you away. I will send both you and the city I gave to you and to your ancestors out of my sight.

One basket had very good-looking figs in it. They looked like those that had ripened early. The other basket had very bad-looking figs in it, so bad they could not be eaten.

The Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I answered, "I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."

"I, the Lord , also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.

So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem.

So, now the Lord says, ‘You have not listened to me. But you have made me angry by the things that you have done. Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.'

So I, the Lord , affirm that I will send for all the peoples of the north and my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it and make them everlasting ruins. I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn.

So the Lord , the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision. "Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath. Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it.