Jeremiah 11

¹ The word that was addressed to Jeremiah by Yahweh,

² ‘Speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³ Tell them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this: Cursed be the man who will not listen to the words of this covenant

⁴ which I ordained for your ancestors when I brought them out of the furnace of iron, out of the land of Egypt. Listen to my voice, I told them, carry out all my orders, then you shall be my people and I will be your God,

⁵ to confirm the oath I swore to your fathers, that I would give them a land where milk and honey flow – as it still does today.”‘ I replied, ‘Yahweh, I will’.

⁶ Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Proclaim all this in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: “Listen to the words of this covenant and obey them.

⁷ For when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I solemnly warned them, and have persistently warned them until today: Listen to my voice.

⁸ But they did not listen, did not pay attention; everyone followed the dictates of his own evil heart. So, I fulfilled against them all the words of this covenant which I had ordained for them to obey and which they had not obeyed.”‘

⁹ Yahweh said to me, ‘Plainly there is conspiracy among the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ They have reverted to the crimes of their ancestors who refused to listen to my words: they too are following alien gods and serving them. The House of Israel and the House of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their ancestors.

¹¹ And so – Yahweh says this – I will now bring them a disaster which they cannot escape; if they invoke me I will not listen to them.

¹² The towns of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem can go and invoke the gods to whom they burn incense, but these will be no help at all to them in the time of their distress.

¹³ ‘For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah. You have built as many incense altars to Baal as Jerusalem has streets.

¹⁴ ‘You, for your part, must not intercede for this people, nor raise either plea or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.

¹⁵ ‘What is my beloved doing in my house? She is playing the hypocrite! Can vows and consecrated meat rid you of your guilt? Am I to make you clean because of this?

¹⁶ A spreading olive tree so fair, so sturdy, was Yahweh’s name for you. With the roar of a great wind he sets its foliage on fire; its branches burn.

¹⁷ ‘And Yahweh Sabaoth, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you because of the crime the House of Israel and the House of Judah have committed, provoking me by burning incense to Baal.’

¹⁸ Yahweh revealed it to me; I was warned. Yahweh, that was when you opened my eyes to their scheming.

¹⁹ I for my part was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughter-house, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, ‘Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten!’

²⁰ But you, Yahweh Sabaoth, who pronounce a just sentence, who probe the loins and heart, let me see the vengeance you will take on them, for I have committed my cause to you.

²¹ This is how Yahweh has spoken against the men of Anathoth who are determined to kill me and have warned me, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh or you will die at our hands!’

²² This is how I will punish them. Their young men shall die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.

²³ No one will be left when I bring disaster on the men of Anathoth, when the year comes for their punishment.’