Jeremiah 11:1–13

Judah Has Disobeyed the Terms of the Lord’s Promise

¹This is the message that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. He said, ²“Listen to the terms of this promise,^aand tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. ³Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who doesn’t listen to the terms of this promise. ⁴I made this promise to your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, which was an iron smelter. I said, “Obey me, and do everything that I have told you to do. Then you will be my people, and I will be your God. ⁵I will keep the oath I made to your ancestors and give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the land you still have today.” ’ ” 

I answered, “Yes, Lord.” 

⁶The Lord said to me, “Announce all these things in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Listen to the terms of this promise, and keep them. ⁷I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, and the warning still applies to you today. I solemnly warned them to obey me. ⁸But they didn’t obey me or pay attention to me. They followed their own stubborn, evil ways. So I punished them, because they did not keep all the terms of the promise, the terms that I commanded them to keep.” 

⁹The Lord said to me, “Conspiracy exists among the people of Judah and among those who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁰They’ve gone back to the evil ways of their ancestors and refused to obey my words. They are following other gods and worshiping them. The nations of Israel and Judah have rejected the promise that I made to their ancestors. ¹¹This is what the Lord says: I’m going to bring a disaster on them that they can’t escape. Although they will cry out to me, I won’t listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem will cry to the gods to whom they’ve been sacrificing. But these gods will never rescue them when they’re in trouble. ¹³Judah, you have as many gods as you have cities. You have set up many altars ⸤in Jerusalem⸥ to sacrifice to Baal. You have as many altars as there are streets in Jerusalem.