<p class="poetry">&#8220;My, how good you have becomep> <p class="poetry">at chasing after your lovers!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Why do you constantly go aboutp> <p class="poetry">changing your political allegiances?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You will get no help from Egyptp> <p class="poetry">just as you got no help from Assyria.<n id="2" />p>

Do you see<n id="1" /> what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Your wise men will be put to shame.p> <p class="poetry">They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Since they have rejected the word of the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">what wisdom do they really have?p>

<p class="poetry">You may feel as secure as a birdp> <p class="poetry">nesting in the cedars of Lebanon.p> <p class="poetry">But oh how you<n id="1" /> will groan<n id="2" /> when the pains of judgment come on you.p> <p class="poetry">They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.<n id="3" />p>

Each of you should merely ask the prophet, &#8216;What answer did the <sc>Lordsc> give you? Or what did the <sc>Lordsc> say?&#8217;<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">You who live in Aroer,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">stand by the road and watch.p> <p class="poetry">Question the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping.p> <p class="poetry">Ask them, &#8216;What has happened?&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">Why do you brag about your great power?p> <p class="poetry">Your power is ebbing away,<n id="1" /> you rebellious people of Ammon,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">who trust in your riches and say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Who would dare to attack us?&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, &#8216;What burdensome message<n id="2" /> do you have from the <sc>Lordsc>?&#8217; Tell them, &#8216;You are the burden,<n id="3" /> and I will cast you away.<n id="4" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="5" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Later the <sc>Lordsc> asked me, &#8220;What do you see, Jeremiah?&#8221; I answered, &#8220;I see a branch of an almond tree.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> again asked me, &#8220;What do you see?&#8221; I answered, &#8220;I see a pot of boiling water; it is tipped toward us from the north.&#8221;<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">This is what the Lord says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;What fault could your ancestors<n id="1" /> have possibly found in mep> <p class="poetry">that they strayed so far from me?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They paid allegiance to<n id="3" /> worthless idols, and so became worthless to me.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">What good will it do you<n id="1" /> then<n id="2" /> to go down to Egyptp> <p class="poetry">to seek help from the Egyptians?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">What good will it do you<n id="4" /> to go over to Assyriap> <p class="poetry">to seek help from the Assyrians?<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;How can you say, &#8216;I have not made myself unclean.p> <p class="poetry">I have not paid allegiance to<n id="1" /> the gods called Baal.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Think about the things you have done there!p> <p class="poetry">You are like a flighty, young female camelp> <p class="poetry">that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says to the people of Judah,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Many of you have done wicked things.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">What will you say<n id="1" /> when the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> appoints as rulers over you those alliesp> <p class="poetry">that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then anguish and agony will grip youp> <p class="poetry">like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, &#8220;Why has the <sc>Lordsc> done such a thing to this great city?&#8221;

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!<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">So I, Jeremiah, tell you,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, &#8216;How did the <sc>Lordsc> answer? Or what did the <sc>Lordsc> say?&#8217;<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Why do you complain about your injuries,p> <p class="poetry">that your pain is incurable?p> <p class="poetry">I have done all this to youp> <p class="poetry">because your wickedness is so greatp> <p class="poetry">and your sin is so much.p>