Jeremiah 42:1

The Survivors Ask the Lord for Advice but Refuse to Follow It

42:1 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah and all the people of every class, went to the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 10:1--11:23

The Lord, not Idols, is the Only Worthy Object of Worship

10:1 You people of Israel, listen to what the Lord has to say to you.

10:2 The Lord says,

“Do not start following pagan religious practices.

Do not be in awe of signs that occur in the sky

even though the nations hold them in awe.

10:3 For the religion of these people is worthless.

They cut down a tree in the forest,

and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools.

10:4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold.

He uses hammer and nails to fasten it together

so that it will not fall over.

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.”

10:6 I said,

“There is no one like you, Lord.

You are great.

And you are renowned for your power.

10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations,

because you deserve to be revered.

For there is no one like you

among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings.

10:8 The people of those nations are both stupid and foolish.

Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless!

10:9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish

and gold is brought from Uphaz to cover those idols.

They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths.

They are clothed in blue and purple clothes.

They are all made by skillful workers.

10:10 The Lord is the only true God.

He is the living God and the everlasting King.

When he shows his anger the earth shakes.

None of the nations can stand up to his fury.

10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:

‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.

They will disappear from the earth and from under the heavens.’

10:12 The Lord is the one who by his power made the earth.

He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.

And by his understanding he spread out the skies.

10:13 When his voice thunders, the heavenly ocean roars.

He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.

He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.

He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.

10:14 All these idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham.

There is no breath in any of those idols.

10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked.

When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

10:16 The Lord, who is the inheritance of Jacob’s descendants, is not like them.

He is the one who created everything.

And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own.

He is known as the Lord who rules over all.”

Jeremiah Laments for and Prays for the Soon-to-be-Judged People

10:17 Gather your belongings together and prepare to leave the land,

you people of Jerusalem who are being besieged.

10:18 For the Lord says, “I will now throw out

those who live in this land.

I will bring so much trouble on them

that they will actually feel it.”

10:19 And I cried out, “We are doomed!

Our wound is severe!

We once thought, ‘This is only an illness.

And we will be able to bear it!’

10:20 But our tents have been destroyed.

The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart.

Our children are gone and are not coming back.

There is no survivor to put our tents back up,

no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.

10:21 For our leaders are stupid.

They have not sought the Lord’s advice.

So they do not act wisely,

and the people they are responsible for have all been scattered.

10:22 Listen! News is coming even now.

The rumble of a great army is heard approaching from a land in the north.

It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,

places where only jackals live.

10:23 Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny.

It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.

10:24 Correct us, Lord, but only in due measure.

Do not punish us in anger or you will reduce us to nothing.

10:25 Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you.

Vent it on the peoples who do not worship you.

For they have destroyed the people of Jacob.

They have completely destroyed them

and left their homeland in utter ruin.

The People Have Violated Their Covenant with God

11:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah: 11:2 “Hear the terms of the covenant I made with Israel and pass them on to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. 11:3 Tell them that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Anyone who does not keep the terms of the covenant will be under a curse. 11:4 Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors to keep when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace. I said at that time, “Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement exactly as I commanded you. If you do, you will be my people and I will be your God. 11:5 Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” That is the very land that you still live in today.’” And I responded, “Amen! Let it be so, Lord!”

11:6 The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you and carry them out! 11:7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. I warned them again and again, ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day. 11:8 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’”

11:9 The Lord said to me, “The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have plotted rebellion against me! 11:10 They have gone back to the evil ways of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors. 11:11 So I, the Lord, say this: ‘I will soon bring disaster on them which they will not be able to escape! When they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them. 11:12 Then those living in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem will go and cry out for help to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. However, those gods will by no means be able to save them when disaster strikes them. 11:13 This is in spite of the fact that the people of Judah have as many gods as they have towns and the citizens of Jerusalem have set up as many altars to sacrifice to that disgusting god, Baal, as they have streets in the city!’ 11:14 So, Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf. Do not plead with me to save them. For I will not listen to them when they call out to me for help when disaster strikes them.”

11:15 The Lord says to the people of Judah,

“What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people?

Many of you have done wicked things.

Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings

that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?

11:16 I, the Lord, once called you a thriving olive tree,

one that produced beautiful fruit.

But I will set you on fire,

fire that will blaze with a mighty roar.

Then all your branches will be good for nothing.

11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, planted you in the land,

I now decree that disaster will come on you

because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil

and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.”

A Plot Against Jeremiah is Revealed and He Complains of Injustice

11:18 The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding.

Then he showed me what the people were doing.

11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.

I did not know they were making plans to kill me.

I did not know they were saying,

“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit!

Let’s remove Jeremiah from the world of the living

so people will not even be reminded of him any more.”

11:20 So I said to the Lord,

“O Lord who rules over all, you are a just judge!

You examine people’s hearts and minds.

I want to see you pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.”

11:21 Then the Lord told me about some men from Anathoth who were threatening to kill me. They had threatened, “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!” 11:22 So the Lord who rules over all said, “I will surely punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle. Their sons and daughters will die of starvation. 11:23 Not one of them will survive. I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you. A day of reckoning is coming for them.”