Jeremiah 11

The Covenant Is Broken

11This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Listen to the terms of this covenant^x and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. ³Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed^y is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant—⁴the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt,^z out of the iron-smelting furnace.^a’ I said, ‘Obey^b me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people,^c and I will be your God. ⁵Then I will fulfill the oath I swore^d to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’^e—the land you possess today.”

I answered, “Amen,^f Lord.”

⁶The Lord said to me, “Proclaim^g all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow^h them. ⁷From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again,ⁱ saying, “Obey me.” ⁸But they did not listen or pay attention;^j instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts.^k So I brought on them all the curses^l of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.^m’ ”

⁹Then the Lord said to me, “There is a conspiracyⁿ among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have returned to the sins of their ancestors,^o who refused to listen to my words.^p They have followed other gods^q to serve them.^r Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant^s I made with their ancestors. ¹¹Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster^t they cannot escape.^u Although they cry^v out to me, I will not listen^w to them. ¹²The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense,^x but they will not help them at all when disaster^y strikes. ¹³You, Judah, have as many gods^z as you have towns;^a and the altars you have set up to burn incense^b to that shameful^c god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

¹⁴“Do not pray^d for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen^e when they call to me in the time of their distress.

¹⁵“What is my beloved doing in my temple

as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes?

Can consecrated meat^f avert your punishment?^g

When you engage in your wickedness,

then you rejoice.^a”

¹⁶The Lord called you a thriving olive tree^h

with fruit beautiful in form.

But with the roar of a mighty storm

he will set it on fire,ⁱ

and its branches will be broken.^j

¹⁷The Lord Almighty, who planted^k you, has decreed disaster^l for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused^m my anger by burning incense to Baal.ⁿ

Plot Against Jeremiah

¹⁸Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. ¹⁹I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;^o I did not realize that they had plotted^p against me, saying,

“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit;

let us cut him off from the land of the living,^q

that his name be remembered^r no more.”

²⁰But you, Lord Almighty, who judge righteously^s

and test the heart^t and mind,^u

let me see your vengeance^v on them,

for to you I have committed my cause.

²¹Therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathoth^w who are threatening to kill you,^x saying, “Do not prophesy^y in the name of the Lord or you will die^z by our hands”—²²therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men^a will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. ²³Not even a remnant^b will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.^c”