Study Desk

So watch out! Someday that place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. It will be called Slaughter Valley, because you will bury your dead there until you run out of room,

So why do you refuse to come back to me? Why do you hold so tightly to your false gods?

Your wise men have rejected what I say, and so they have no wisdom. Now they will be trapped and put to shame; they won't know what to do.

They should be ashamed of their disgusting sins, but they don't even blush. And so, when I punish Judah, they will end up on the ground, dead like everyone else.

My people are crushed, and so is my heart. I am horrified and mourn.

I wish that my eyes were fountains of tears, so I could cry day and night for my people who were killed.

Jeremiah, all your friends and relatives tell lies about you, so don't trust them.

And so I will purify the hearts of my people just as gold is purified in a furnace. I have no other choice.

I weep for the pastureland in the hill country. It's so barren and scorched that no one travels there. No cattle can be found there, and birds and wild animals have all disappeared.

So I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, promise them poison to eat and drink.

cover it with silver and gold, and then nail it down so it won't fall over.

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.

Our enemies refuse to admit that you are God or to worship you. They have wiped out our people and left our nation lying in ruins. So get angry and sweep them away!

The Lord God told me to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: I, the Lord , am warning you that I will put a curse on anyone who doesn't keep the agreement I made with Israel. So pay attention to what it says.

have always been stubborn. You have refused to listen, and instead you have done whatever your sinful hearts have desired. You have not kept the agreement we made, so I will make you suffer every curse that goes with it.

Then the Lord told me to say to the people of Judah: You are my chosen people, but you have no right to be here in my temple, doing such terrible things. The sacrifices you offer me won't protect you from disaster, so stop celebrating.

But then the Lord told me that they had planned to chop me down like a tree— fruit and all— so that no one would ever remember me again.

I prayed, " Lord All-Powerful, you always do what is right, and you know every thought. So I trust you to help me and to take revenge."

But you know, Lord , how faithful I've always been, even in my thoughts. So drag my enemies away and butcher them like sheep!