Study Desk

"But you people left the Lord , so you will be punished. You forgot about my holy mountain. You began to worship Luck. You held feasts for the false god, Fate.

So this is what the Lord God says: "My servants will eat, but you evil people will be hungry. My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. My servants will be happy, but you will suffer shame.

Your names will be like curses to my chosen servants." The Lord God will kill you, and then he will call his servants by a new name.

The Lord says, "People now ask blessings from the earth. But in the future they will ask blessings from the faithful God. People now trust in the power of the earth when they make a promise. But in the future they will trust in the God who is faithful. That's because the troubles in the past will all be forgotten. They will be hidden from my sight."

In the same way, I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born." The Lord says this: "I promise that if I cause you the pain of birth, I will not stop you from having your new nation." Your God said this.

Then I said, "But, Lord God , I don't know how to speak. I am only a boy."

"The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord ?' The people who know the law did not want to know me. The leaders of the people of Israel turned against me. The prophets spoke in the name of the false god Baal. They worshiped worthless idols."

Has any nation ever stopped worshiping their old gods so that they could worship new gods? No! And their gods are not really gods at all! But my people stopped worshiping their glorious God and started worshiping idols that are worth nothing.

This trouble is your own fault. The Lord your God was leading you the right way, but you turned away from him.

You have done wrong, and that will only bring punishment to you. Trouble will come to you, and it will teach you a lesson. Think about it and understand how bad it is to turn away from the Lord your God. It is wrong not to fear and respect me." This message is from Lord God All-Powerful.

Even if you wash yourself with lye, even if you use much soap, I can still see your guilt." This message is from the Lord God .

But still, you say, ‘I am innocent. God is not angry with me.' So I will also judge you guilty of lying, because you say, ‘I have done nothing wrong.'

You also said, ‘God will not always be angry with me. His anger will not continue forever.' "Judah, you say that, but you do as much evil as you can."

But you must recognize your sin. You turned against the Lord your God. That is your sin. You worshiped the idols of other nations. You worshiped them under every green tree. You did not obey me.'" This message is from the Lord .

You can hear crying on the bare hills. The people of Israel are crying and praying for mercy. They became very evil. They forgot the Lord their God.

"People of Israel, you are unfaithful to me, but come back to me. Come back and I will forgive you for being unfaithful. "Just say, ‘Yes, we will come back, because you are the Lord our God.

It was foolish to worship idols on the hills. All the loud parties on the mountains were wrong. Surely the salvation of Israel comes from the Lord our God.

That terrible false god Baal has eaten everything our fathers owned. This has happened since we were children. That terrible false god took our fathers' sheep and cattle and their sons and daughters.

Let us lie down in our shame. Let our shame cover us like a blanket. We have sinned against the Lord our God. We and our fathers have sinned. We have not obeyed the Lord our God from the time we were children.'"

Then I, Jeremiah, said, "Lord God , you have tricked the people of Judah and Jerusalem. You said to them, ‘You will have peace.' But now the sword is pointing at their throats!"