Study Desk

And the LORD said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, 'Hear the words of this covenant and do them.

'Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart, each one of them; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them to do, but they did not.'"

"They have turned back to the wrongdoings of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers."

'This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have followed other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this undergarment which is completely useless.

Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, LORD God of armies.

"Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, 'For what reason has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

"Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will announce My words to you."

Then they said, "Come and let's devise plans against Jeremiah. Certainly the Law is not going to be lost by the priest, nor advice by the wise, nor the divine word by the prophet! Come, and let's strike at him with our tongue, and let's pay no attention to any of his words."

"Then go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you,

"This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: 'Behold, I am going to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to listen to My words.'"

"But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a place of ruins."'"

As for the prophets: My heart is broken within me, All my bones tremble; I have become like a drunken man, And like a man overcome by wine, Because of the LORD And because of His holy words.

This is what the LORD of armies says: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They tell a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the LORD.

"But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds.

"Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who steal My words from each other.

"For you will no longer remember the pronouncement of the LORD, because every person's own word will become the pronouncement, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of armies, our God.

"Therefore this is what the LORD of armies says: 'Because you have not obeyed My words,

'I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

"Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, 'The LORD will roar from on high And raise His voice from His holy dwelling; He will roar forcefully against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

"This is what the LORD says: 'Stand in the courtyard of the LORD'S house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the LORD'S house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!