Study Desk

Mourning women! Oh, listen to God 's Message! Open your ears. Take in what he says. Teach your daughters songs for the dead and your friends the songs of heartbreak. Death has climbed in through the window, broken into our bedrooms. Children on the playgrounds drop dead, and young men and women collapse at their games.

Speak up! " God 's Message: "‘Dead bodies everywhere, scattered at random like sheep and goat dung in the fields, Like wheat cut down by reapers and left to rot where it falls.'"

God 's Message: "Don't let the wise brag of their wisdom. Don't let heroes brag of their exploits. Don't let the rich brag of their riches. If you brag, brag of this and this only: That you understand and know me. I'm God , and I act in loyal love. I do what's right and set things right and fair, and delight in those who do the same things. These are my trademarks." God 's Decree.

"Stay alert! It won't be long now"— God 's Decree!—"when I will personally deal with everyone whose life is all outside but no inside: Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab. All these nations are big on performance religion—including Israel, who is no better."

Listen to the Message that God is sending your way, House of Israel. Listen most carefully: "Don't take the godless nations as your models. Don't be impressed by their glamour and glitz, no matter how much they're impressed. The religion of these peoples is nothing but smoke. An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down, then shaped by a woodsman's ax. They trim it with tinsel and balls, use hammer and nails to keep it upright. It's like a scarecrow in a cabbage patch—can't talk! Dead wood that has to be carried—can't walk! Don't be impressed by such stuff. It's useless for either good or evil."

All this is nothing compared to you, O God . You're wondrously great, famously great. Who can fail to be impressed by you, King of the nations? It's your very nature to be worshiped! Look far and wide among the elite of the nations. The best they can come up with is nothing compared to you. Stupidly, they line them up—a lineup of sticks, good for nothing but making smoke. Gilded with silver foil from Tarshish, covered with gold from Uphaz, Hung with violet and purple fabrics— no matter how fancy the sticks, they're still sticks.

But God is the real thing— the living God, the eternal King. When he's angry, Earth shakes. Yes, and the godless nations quake.

"Tell them this, ‘The stick gods who made nothing, neither sky nor earth, Will come to nothing on the earth and under the sky.'" But it is God whose power made the earth, whose wisdom gave shape to the world, who crafted the cosmos. He thunders, and rain pours down. He sends the clouds soaring. He embellishes the storm with lightnings, launches wind from his warehouse. Stick-god worshipers looking mighty foolish, god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods! Their gods are frauds—dead sticks, deadwood gods, tasteless jokes. When the fires of judgment come, they'll be ashes.

But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing. He put the whole universe together And pays special attention to Israel. His name? God -of-the-Angel-Armies!

Grab your bags, all you who are under attack. God has given notice: "Attention! I'm evicting Everyone who lives here, And right now—yes, right now! I'm going to press them to the limit, squeeze the life right out of them."

It's because our leaders are stupid. They never asked God for counsel, And so nothing worked right. The people are scattered all over.

I know, God , that mere mortals can't run their own lives, That men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life. So correct us, God , as you see best. Don't lose your temper. That would be the end of us. Vent your anger on the godless nations, who refuse to acknowledge you, And on the people who won't pray to you— The very ones who've made hash out of Jacob, yes, made hash And devoured him whole, people and pastures alike.

The Message that came to Jeremiah from God :

"Preach to the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them this: ‘This is God 's Message, the Message of Israel's God to you. Anyone who does not keep the terms of this covenant is cursed. The terms are clear. I made them plain to your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt, out of the iron furnace of suffering. "‘Obey what I tell you. Do exactly what I command you. Your obedience will close the deal. You'll be mine and I'll be yours. This will provide the conditions in which I will be able to do what I promised your ancestors: to give them a fertile and lush land. And, as you know, that's what I did.'" "Yes, God ," I replied. "That's true." God continued: "Preach all this in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Say, ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and carry them out! I warned your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt and I've kept up the warnings. I haven't quit warning them for a moment. I warned them from morning to night: "Obey me or else!" But they didn't obey. They paid no attention to me. They did whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it, until finally I stepped in and ordered the punishments set out in the covenant, which, despite all my warnings, they had ignored.'" Then God said, "There's a conspiracy among the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. They've plotted to reenact the sins of their ancestors—the ones who disobeyed me and decided to go after other gods and worship them. Israel and Judah are in this together, mindlessly breaking the covenant I made with their ancestors." "Well, your God has something to say about this: Watch out! I'm about to visit doom on you, and no one will get out of it. You're going to cry for help but I won't listen. Then all the people in Judah and Jerusalem will start praying to the gods you've been sacrificing to all these years, but it won't do a bit of good. You've got as many gods as you have villages, Judah! And you've got enough altars for sacrifices to that impotent sex god Baal to put one on every street corner in Jerusalem!" "And as for you, Jeremiah, I don't want you praying for this people. Nothing! Not a word of petition. Indeed, I'm not going to listen to a single syllable of their crisis-prayers." "What business do the ones I love have figuring out how to get off the hook? And right in the house of worship! Do you think making promises and devising pious programs will save you from doom? Do you think you can get out of this by becoming more religious? A mighty oak tree, majestic and glorious— that's how I once described you. But it will only take a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning to leave you a shattered wreck. "I, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, who planted you—yes, I have pronounced doom on you. Why? Because of the disastrous life you've lived, Israel and Judah alike, goading me to anger with your continuous worship and offerings to that sorry god Baal." God told me what was going on. That's how I knew. You, God , opened my eyes to their evil scheming. I had no idea what was going on—naive as a lamb being led to slaughter! I didn't know they had it in for me, didn't know of their behind-the-scenes plots: "Let's get rid of the preacher. That will stop the sermons! Let's get rid of him for good. He won't be remembered for long." Then I said, " God -of-the-Angel-Armies, you're a fair judge. You examine and cross-examine human actions and motives. I want to see these people shown up and put down! I'm an open book before you. Clear my name." That sent a signal to God , who spoke up: "Here's what I'll do to the men of Anathoth who are trying to murder you, the men who say, ‘Don't preach to us in God 's name or we'll kill you.' Yes, it's God -of-the-Angel-Armies speaking. Indeed! I'll call them to account: Their young people will die in battle, their children will die of starvation, and there will be no one left at all, none. I'm visiting the men of Anathoth with doom. Doomsday!"

The Terms of This Covenant The Message that came to Jeremiah from God : "Preach to the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them this: ‘This is God 's Message, the Message of Israel's God to you. Anyone who does not keep the terms of this covenant is cursed. The terms are clear. I made them plain to your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt, out of the iron furnace of suffering. "‘Obey what I tell you. Do exactly what I command you. Your obedience will close the deal. You'll be mine and I'll be yours. This will provide the conditions in which I will be able to do what I promised your ancestors: to give them a fertile and lush land. And, as you know, that's what I did.'" "Yes, God ," I replied. "That's true."

God continued: "Preach all this in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Say, ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and carry them out! I warned your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt and I've kept up the warnings. I haven't quit warning them for a moment. I warned them from morning to night: "Obey me or else!" But they didn't obey. They paid no attention to me. They did whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it, until finally I stepped in and ordered the punishments set out in the covenant, which, despite all my warnings, they had ignored.'"

Then God said, "There's a conspiracy among the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. They've plotted to reenact the sins of their ancestors—the ones who disobeyed me and decided to go after other gods and worship them. Israel and Judah are in this together, mindlessly breaking the covenant I made with their ancestors."

"Well, your God has something to say about this: Watch out! I'm about to visit doom on you, and no one will get out of it. You're going to cry for help but I won't listen. Then all the people in Judah and Jerusalem will start praying to the gods you've been sacrificing to all these years, but it won't do a bit of good. You've got as many gods as you have villages, Judah! And you've got enough altars for sacrifices to that impotent sex god Baal to put one on every street corner in Jerusalem!"

"I, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, who planted you—yes, I have pronounced doom on you. Why? Because of the disastrous life you've lived, Israel and Judah alike, goading me to anger with your continuous worship and offerings to that sorry god Baal."

God told me what was going on. That's how I knew. You, God , opened my eyes to their evil scheming. I had no idea what was going on—naive as a lamb being led to slaughter! I didn't know they had it in for me, didn't know of their behind-the-scenes plots: "Let's get rid of the preacher. That will stop the sermons! Let's get rid of him for good. He won't be remembered for long."