1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 "Listen to the words of this covenant, and speak them to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
3 Tell them, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who will not listen to the words of this covenant,
4 which I commanded your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the furnace of iron, saying, "Listen to my voice and do them, just as I command you; then you will be my people, and I will be your God,"
5 so that I may establish the oath I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.'" I answered, "Amen, LORD."
6 Then the LORD said to me, "Call out all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: 'Listen to the words of this covenant and carry them out.
7 For I earnestly warned your fathers on the day I brought them up from the land of Egypt, and to this day, rising early and warning: "Listen to my voice."
8 But they did not listen or turn their ear; each walked in 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 which they did not do.'"
9 The LORD said to me, "A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They have gone back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words; and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
11 So thus says the LORD: See, I am bringing on them evil from which they will not be able to get out; they will cry out to me, but I will not listen to them.
12 The cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they make offerings, but these will give them no help at all in their time of evil.
13 For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shame, altars for making offerings to Baal.
14 "As for you, do not pray for this people or raise a cry or a prayer for them; for I will not be listening when they call to me because of their evil.
15 What does my beloved want in my house, when she has carried out her schemes, the many? Can holy flesh take your evil away from you? Then you would exult.
16 A leafy olive tree, fair with beautiful fruit, the LORD named you. With the sound of a great roar he has set fire to it, and its branches are broken.
17 The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has decreed evil against you, for the evil the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done to themselves, provoking me by making offerings to Baal."
18 The LORD let me know, and I knew; then you showed me what they were doing.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not know that they had devised plans against me: "Let us ruin the tree with its fruit, and cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name is no longer remembered."
20 But you, LORD of hosts, who judge righteously, who examine the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have laid open my case.
21 So thus says the LORD about the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, "You must not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die at our hands":
22 so thus says the LORD of hosts: "See, I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die by hunger.
23 No remnant will be left of them, for I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment."