“My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!

Why do you constantly go about changing your political allegiances? You will get no help from Egypt just as you got no help from Assyria.

Do you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Your wise men will be put to shame. They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom do they really have?

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you will groan when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.

Each of you should merely ask the prophet, ‘What answer did the Lord give you? Or what did the Lord say?’

You who live in Aroer, stand by the road and watch. Question the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping. Ask them, ‘What has happened?’

Why do you brag about your great power? Your power is ebbing away, you rebellious people of Ammon, who trust in your riches and say, ‘Who would dare to attack us?’

The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What burdensome message do you have from the Lord?’ Tell them, ‘You are the burden, and I will cast you away. I, the Lord, affirm it!

Later the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

The Lord again asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a pot of boiling water; it is tipped toward us from the north.”

This is what the Lord says: “What fault could your ancestors have possibly found in me that they strayed so far from me? They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to me.

What good will it do you then to go down to Egypt to seek help from the Egyptians? What good will it do you to go over to Assyria to seek help from the Assyrians?

“How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to the gods called Baal.’ Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path.

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?

What will you say when the Lord appoints as rulers over you those allies that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? Then anguish and agony will grip you like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.

“‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?”

Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain! I, the Lord, affirm it!

So I, Jeremiah, tell you, “Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, ‘How did the Lord answer? Or what did the Lord say?’

Why do you complain about your injuries, that your pain is incurable? I have done all this to you because your wickedness is so great and your sin is so much.