Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming. Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.’

No, a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding. Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.’

You will probably ask yourself, ‘Why have these things happened to me? Why have I been treated like a disgraced adulteress whose skirt has been torn off and her limbs exposed?’ It is because you have sinned so much.

So here is what the Lord has to say about Israel and Judah.

The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.

Then Zedekiah told Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about the conversation we have had. If you do, you will die.

Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read aloud all these prophecies.

Even your clothes are stained with the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong; you did not catch them breaking into your homes. Yet, in spite of all these things you have done,

Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did.

“The way you have lived and the things you have done will bring this on you. This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart.”

I will surely punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord. “I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!”

I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord. “I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!

Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins!

Then the Lord said to me, “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you.

I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord. “I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!”

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.”

As you stand in those places announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says.

Therefore, the Lord says, “Ask the people of other nations whether they have heard of anything like this. Israel should have been like a virgin. But she has done something utterly revolting!

Now Pashhur son of Immer heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. He was the priest who was chief of security in the Lord’s temple.

Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession. You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the Lord says.