Study Desk

Your clothes are stained with the blood of the poor and innocent, not with the blood of burglars. "But in spite of all this,

you say, ‘I am innocent; surely the Lord is no longer angry with me.' But I, the Lord , will punish you because you deny that you have sinned.

The Lord says, "If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he cannot take her back again. This would completely defile the land. But, Israel, you have had many lovers, and now you want to return to me!

You won't always be angry; you won't be mad at me forever.' Israel, that is what you said, but you did all the evil you could."

I thought that after she had done all this, she would surely return to me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it all.

Judah also saw that I divorced Israel and sent her away because she had turned from me and had become a prostitute. But Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, was not afraid. She too became a prostitute

But like an unfaithful wife, you have not been faithful to me. I, the Lord , have spoken."

But the worship of Baal, the god of shame, has made us lose flocks and herds, sons and daughters—everything that our ancestors have worked for since ancient times.

Then I said, "Sovereign Lord , you have completely deceived the people of Jerusalem! You have said there would be peace, but a sword is at their throats."

The Lord says, "My people are stupid; they don't know me. They are like foolish children; they have no understanding. They are experts at doing what is evil, but failures at doing what is good."

(The Lord has said that the whole earth will become a wasteland, but that he will not completely destroy it.)

Surely the Lord looks for faithfulness. He struck you, but you paid no attention; he crushed you, but you refused to learn. You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.

I will go to the people in power and talk with them. Surely they know what their God requires, what the Lord wants them to do." But all of them have rejected the Lord 's authority and refuse to obey him.

The Lord asked, "Why should I forgive the sins of my people? They have abandoned me and have worshiped gods that are not real. I fed my people until they were full, but they committed adultery and spent their time with prostitutes.

I will send enemies to cut down my people's vineyards, but not to destroy them completely. I will tell them to strip away the branches, because those branches are not mine.

They have said that the prophets are nothing but windbags and that they have no message from the Lord . The Lord God Almighty said to me, "Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up."

Pay attention, you foolish and stupid people, who have eyes, but cannot see, and have ears, but cannot hear.

I am the Lord ; why don't you fear me? Why don't you tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent boundary that it cannot cross. The sea may toss, but it cannot go beyond it; the waves may roar, but they cannot break through.

But you people! You are stubborn and rebellious; you have turned aside and left me.

"Evildoers live among my people; they lie in wait like those who lay nets to catch birds, but they have set their traps to catch people.