Study Desk

The Lord said: I destroyed the land because the people disobeyed me and rejected my laws and teachings.

An idol is no better than a scarecrow. It can't speak, and it has to be carried, because it can't walk. Why worship an idol that can't help or harm you?

People who make idols are so stupid! They will be disappointed, because their false gods are not alive.

But I told them, "Our leaders were stupid failures, because they refused to listen to the Lord . And so we've been scattered like sheep.

How long will the ground be dry and the pasturelands parched? The birds and animals are dead and gone. And all of this happened because the people are so sinful. They even brag, "God can't see the sins we commit."

My people, you planted wheat, but because I was furious, I let only weeds grow. You wore yourselves out for nothing!

Do you know why your clothes were torn off and you were abused? It was because of your terrible sins.

And everyone who listens to them will be killed, just as they deserve. Their dead bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, because their families will also be dead, and no one will be left to bury them.

Jeremiah, go and tell the people how you feel about all this. So I told them: "Tears will flood my eyes both day and night, because my nation suffers from a deadly wound.

This punishment will happen because of the horrible things your King Manasseh did. And you will be disgusting to all nations on earth.

by scattering you like straw blown by the wind. I will punish you with sorrow and death, because you refuse to change your ways.

I will give them everything you own, because you have sinned everywhere in your country.

You can see how I suffer insult after insult, all because of you, Lord . Don't be so patient with my enemies; take revenge on them before they kill me.

When you spoke to me, I was glad to obey, because I belong to you, the Lord All-Powerful.

I don't go to parties and have a good time. Instead, I keep to myself, because you have filled me with your anger.

because I am making you strong, like a bronze wall. They are evil and violent, but when they attack,

I will punish you double for your sins, because you have made my own land disgusting. You have filled it with lifeless idols that remind me of dead bodies.

You will lose the land that I gave you, and I will make you slaves in a foreign country, because you have made my anger blaze up like a fire that won't stop burning.

I will make Jerusalem as unclean as Topheth, by filling the city with your dead bodies. I will do this because you and your kings have gone up to the roofs of your houses and burned incense to the stars in the sky, as though they were gods. And you have given sacrifices of wine to foreign gods.

The Babylonian army has surrounded Jerusalem, so if you want to live, you must go out and surrender to them. But if you want to die because of hunger, disease, or war, then stay here in the city.