“Israel is not a slave, is he? He was not born into slavery, was he? If not, why then is he being carried off?

But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” says the Lord.

Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful.

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

“I will abandon my nation. I will forsake the people I call my own. I will turn my beloved people over to the power of their enemies.

So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working at his wheel.

The Lord told me, “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. Give him a message from me there.

Moreover, the Lord says, “Both the prophets and priests are godless. I have even found them doing evil in my temple!

We have not built any houses to live in. We do not own any vineyards, fields, or crops.

Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am no longer allowed to go into the Lord’s temple.

Since it was the ninth month of the year, the king was sitting in his winter quarters. A fire was burning in the firepot in front of him.

(Now Jeremiah had not yet been put in prison. So he was still free to come and go among the people as he pleased.

Ebed Melech departed the palace and went to speak to the king. He said to him,

The people of Moab will be disappointed by their god Chemosh. They will be as disappointed as the people of Israel were when they put their trust in the calf god at Bethel.

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.

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.”

For,’ I say, ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah tightly to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. But they would not obey me.

“I, the Lord, say: ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’

The Lord said, “Go stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word!

How dare you claim the Lord’s authority to prophesy such things! How dare you claim his authority to prophesy that this temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will become an uninhabited ruin!” Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah.