Study Desk

But I said to myself, "It must be only the poor who are so foolish. They have not learned the way of the Lord . They don't know the teachings of their God.

So I will go to the leaders of Judah. I will talk to them. Surely the leaders know the way of the Lord . Surely they know the law of their God." But the leaders had all joined together to break away from serving God.

So a lion from the forest will attack them. A wolf from the desert will kill them. A leopard is hiding near their cities, to tear to pieces anyone who comes out. That's because the people have sinned again and again. Many times they have wandered away from God.

God says, "People of Judah, why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned me. They made promises to idols that are not really gods! I gave your children everything they needed, but they were still unfaithful to me! They spent their time with prostitutes.

The prophets are only empty wind. The word of God is not in them. Bad things will happen to them."

The Lord God All-Powerful said these things: "The people said I would not punish them. So, Jeremiah, the words I give you will be like fire, and these people will be like wood. That fire will burn them up completely."

The people of Judah will ask you, ‘Jeremiah, why has the Lord our God done this bad thing to us?' Give them this answer: ‘You people of Judah have left me, and you have served foreign idols in your own land. You did these things, so now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.'

The people of Judah never say to themselves, ‘Let's fear and respect the Lord our God. He gives us autumn and spring rains at just the right time. He makes sure that we have the harvest at just the right time.'

The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Change your lives and do good things. If you do this, I will let you live in this place.

Will you steal and murder? Will you commit adultery? Will you falsely accuse other people? Will you worship the false god Baal and follow other gods that you have not known?

So this is what the Lord God says: "I will show my anger against this place. I will punish people and animals. I will punish the trees in the field and the crops that grow in the ground. My anger will be like a hot fire—no one will be able to stop it."

This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: "Go and offer as many burnt offerings and sacrifices as you want. Eat the meat of those sacrifices yourselves.

I only gave them this command: ‘Obey me and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do all that I command, and good things will happen to you.'

So you must tell them these things: ‘This is the nation that did not obey the Lord its God. These people did not listen to God's teachings. They don't know the true teachings.'

"They will say, ‘Why are we just sitting here? Come, let's run to the strong cities. If the Lord our God is going to make us die, then let's die there. We have sinned against the Lord , so he has given us poisoned water to drink.

God, I am very sad and afraid.

Listen to my people. Everywhere in this country, people are crying for help. They say, "Is the Lord still at Zion? Is Zion's King still there?" But God says, "The people of Judah worshiped their worthless foreign idols. That made me very angry! Why did they do that?"

If only I had a place in the desert— a house where travelers spend the night— so I could leave my people. I could go away from them, because they are all unfaithful to God. They have all turned against him.

The people of Judah lived their own way. They were stubborn. They followed the false god Baal. Their fathers taught them to follow those false gods."

So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, "I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.