Jeremiah 18:10–17

but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.

¹¹“So, tell the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem my Message: ‘Danger! I’m shaping doom against you, laying plans against you. Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’

¹²“But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’ ”

^13–17God’s Message:

“Ask around.

Survey the godless nations.

Has anyone heard the likes of this?

Virgin Israel has become a slut!

Does snow disappear from the Lebanon peaks?

Do alpine streams run dry?

But my people have left me

to worship the Big Lie.

They’ve gotten off the track,

the old, well-worn trail,

And now bushwhack through underbrush

in a tangle of roots and vines.

Their land’s going to end up a mess—

a fool’s memorial to be spit on.

Travelers passing through

will shake their heads in disbelief.

I’ll scatter my people before their enemies,

like autumn leaves in a high wind.

On their day of doom, they’ll stare at my back as I walk away,

catching not so much as a glimpse of my face.”