Study Desk

Why are you like someone who has been attacked by surprise, like a warrior who is not able to save anyone? But you are among us, Lord , and we are called by your name so don't leave us without help!

This is what the Lord says about the people of Judah: "They really love to wander from me; they don't stop themselves from leaving me. So now the Lord will not accept them. He will now remember the evil they do and will punish them for their sins."

So this is what I say about the prophets who are prophesying in my name. I did not send them. They say, ‘No enemy will attack this country with swords. There will never be hunger in this land.' So those prophets will die from hunger and from an enemy's sword.

Lord , have you completely rejected the nation of Judah? Do you hate Jerusalem? Why have you hurt us so badly that we cannot be made well again? We hoped for peace, but nothing good has come. We looked for a time of healing, but only terror came.

Jerusalem, you have left me," says the Lord . "You keep going farther and farther away, so I have taken hold of you and destroyed you. I was tired of holding back my anger.

I have separated the people of Judah with my pitchfork and scattered them at the city gates of the land. My people haven't changed their ways. So I have destroyed them and taken away their children.

So this is what the Lord says: "If you change your heart and return to me, I will take you back. Then you may serve me. And if you speak things that have worth, not useless words, then you may speak for me. Let the people of Judah turn to you, but you must not change and be like them.

So this is what the Lord says: "Jeremiah, do not go into a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go there to cry for the dead or to show your sorrow for them, because I have taken back my blessing, my love, and my pity from these people," says the Lord .

So I will throw you out of this country and send you into a land that you and your ancestors never knew. There you can serve other gods day and night, because I will not help you or show you any favors.'

The Lord says, "So I will teach those who make idols. This time I will teach them about my power and my strength. Then they will know that my name is the Lord .

But I, the Lord , look into a person's heart and test the mind. So I can decide what each one deserves; I can give each one the right payment for what he does."

Like a bird hatching an egg it did not lay, so are the people who get rich by cheating. When their lives are half finished, they will lose their riches. At the end of their lives, it will be clear they were fools.

So I went down to the potter's house and saw him working at the potter's wheel.

He was using his hands to make a pot from clay, but something went wrong with it. So he used that clay to make another pot the way he wanted it to be.

"So, say this to the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am preparing disaster for you and making plans against you. So stop doing evil. Change your ways and do what is right.'

So this is what the Lord says: "Ask the people in other nations this question: ‘Have you ever heard anything like this?' The people of Israel have done a horrible thing.

So Judah's country will become an empty desert. People will not stop making fun of it. They will shake their heads as they pass by; they will be shocked at how the country was destroyed.

Then the people said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah. Surely the teaching of the law by the priest will not be lost. We will still have the advice from the wise teachers and the words of the prophets. So let's ruin him by telling lies about him. We won't pay attention to anything he says."

So now, let their children starve, and let their enemies kill them with swords. Let their wives lose their children and husbands. Let the men from Judah be put to death and the young men be killed with swords in battle.

An enemy army will surround the city and will not let anyone go out to get food. I will make the people so hungry that they will eat the bodies of their own sons and daughters, and then they will begin to eat each other.'