Study Desk

They have built the high places of the false god Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt gifts to Baal. This is a thing which I never told them to do or spoke of. It did not even come to My mind.

"The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, ‘See, I am about to bring to this city and to all its towns all the trouble that I have spoken about, because they have made their necks hard and would not listen to My Words.'"

Pashhur had Jeremiah the man of God beaten. Then he put him in chains at the upper Benjamin Gate by the house of the Lord.

‘The Lord God of Israel says, "See, I will turn against you the objects of war you are using to fight with against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are gathered outside the wall to shut you in. And I will bring them into the center of this city.

And they will answer, ‘Because they did not keep the agreement of the Lord their God. They worshiped other gods and served them.'"

The Lord God of Israel says this about the shepherds who are caring for My people, "You have made My flock go everywhere and have driven them away, and have not cared for them. See, I am about to punish you for your sinful things you have done," says the Lord.

As for the men who speak for God, my heart is broken within me. All my bones shake. I have become like a drunk man, like a man who has had too much wine, because of the Lord and because of His holy words.

"For both the men of God and the religious leaders are sinful. I have found their sin even in My house," says the Lord.

"In Samaria I have seen a very bad thing among the men of Samaria who tell what is going to happen in the future. They speak for the false god Baal, and have led My people into sin.

I did not send these men who say they speak for God, yet they ran to tell their news. I did not speak to them, yet they spoke in My name.

"Am I a God Who is near," says the Lord, "and not a God Who is far away?

But you must not say, ‘The heavy load of the Lord,' any more. For every man's own word will be the weight upon himself. And you have made sinful the words of the living God, the Lord of All, our God.

"This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so will I think of the people of Judah as being good, whom I have sent away from this place into the land of the Babylonians.

And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord. They will be My people and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.'

Jeremiah the man of God spoke this word to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, saying,

For the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of anger from My hand. And make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

"Then you will say to them, ‘The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "Drink, be drunk, throw up, fall, and get up no more, because of the sword which I will send among you."'

then I will make this House of God like Shiloh. And I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth."'"

The religious leaders and the men of God and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had told him to speak to all the people, the religious leaders and men of God and all the people took hold of him, saying, "You must die!