Jeremiah 11

The Covenant Is Broken

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

I answered, “Amen,ⁱ Lord.”

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

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

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

“What is my beloved doing in my temple

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

Can consecrated meatⁱ avert your punishment?^j

When you engage in your wickedness,

then you rejoice.”

The Lord called you a thriving olive tree^k

with fruit beautiful in form.

But with the roar of a mighty storm

he will set it on fire,^l

and its branches will be broken.^m

The Lord Almighty, who plantedⁿ you, has decreed disaster^o for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and aroused^p my anger by burning incense to Baal.^q

Plot Against Jeremiah

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

“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit;

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

that his name be remembered^d no more.”

But you, Lord Almighty, who judge righteously^e

and test the heart^f and mind,^g

let me see your vengeance^h on them,

for to you I have committed my cause.

“Therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathothⁱ who are seeking your life^j and saying, ‘Do not prophesy^k in the name of the Lord or you will die^l by our hands’— therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish them. Their young men^m will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. Not even a remnantⁿ will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.^o’ ”