Jeremiah 11

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh:

2“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak them to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

3Say to them: This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who does not obey the words of this covenant,

4which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace. I said, ‘Obey my voice and do everything I command you. Then you will be my people, and I will be your God,’

5so that I may keep the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.” Then I answered, “Amen, Yahweh.”

6Yahweh said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them.

7For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and I have warned them again and again until this day, saying, ‘Obey my voice.’

8But they did not listen or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I had commanded them to do but they did not do.”

9Then Yahweh said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

10They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors of old, who refused to listen to my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their ancestors.

11Therefore this is what Yahweh says: I am about to bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. They will cry out to me, but I will not listen to them.

12Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but these will not save them at all in the time of their disaster.

13For your gods have become as many as your cities, Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

14As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not raise a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me because of their disaster.

15What right does my beloved have in my house, when she has carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat take your disaster away from you? Then you could rejoice.

16Yahweh once named you ‘A thriving olive tree, beautiful with fine fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tumult he will set fire to it, and its branches will be broken.

17Yahweh of Armies, who planted you, has pronounced disaster against you because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”

18Yahweh made it known to me, and I knew; then you showed me their deeds.

19But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be remembered no more.”

20But Yahweh of Armies, you who judge righteously, who test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.

21Therefore this is what Yahweh says about the people of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, or you will die by our hand”—

22therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die by famine.

23Not even a remnant will be left to them, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.