<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="poetry">The prophets prophesy lies.p> <p class="poetry">The priests exercise power by their own authority.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">And my people love to have it this way.p> <p class="poetry">But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">I take no delight<n id="1" /> when they offer up to me<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">frankincense that comes from Shebap> <p class="poetry">or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.p> <p class="poetry">I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.p> <p class="poetry">I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.&#8217;<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="poetry">Why should you be like someone who is helpless,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like a champion<n id="2" /> who cannot save anyone?p> <p class="poetry">You are indeed with us,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and we belong to you.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not abandon us!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish?p> <p class="poetry">Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound?p> <p class="poetry">Will you let me down when I need youp> <p class="poetry">like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?&#8221;<n id="1" />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" />

There is no reason why you and your people should die in war<n id="1" /> or from starvation or disease!<n id="2" /> That&#8217;s what the <sc>Lordsc> says will happen to any nation<n id="3" /> that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

Do not listen to them. Be subject to the king of Babylon. Then you<n id="1" /> will continue to live. Why should this city be made a pile of rubble?&#8217;&#8221;<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>

Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, &#8220;What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison?<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you accomplish nothing<n id="2" /> by wearing a beautiful dress,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">decking yourself out in jewels of gold,p> <p class="poetry">and putting on eye shadow!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.p> <p class="poetry">Your lovers spurn you.p> <p class="poetry">They want to kill you.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Listen,<n id="2" /> nation of Israel!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you.p> <p class="poetry">It will be a nation that was founded long agop> <p class="poetry">and has lasted for a long time.p> <p class="poetry">It will be a nation whose language you will not know.p> <p class="poetry">Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.p>

&#8220;So then, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> when your people<n id="2" /> ask, &#8216;Why has the <sc>Lordsc> our God done all this to us?&#8217; tell them, &#8216;It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So<n id="3" /> you must serve foreigners<n id="4" /> in a land that does not belong to you.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">I have listened to them very carefully,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">but they do not speak honestly.p> <p class="poetry">None of them regrets the evil he has done.p> <p class="poetry">None of them says, &#8220;I have done wrong!&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">All of them persist in their own wayward course<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">like a horse charging recklessly into battle.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The people say,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Why are we just sitting here?p> <p class="poetry">Let us gather together inside the fortified cities.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Let us at least die there fighting,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">since the <sc>Lordsc> our God has condemned us to die.p> <p class="poetry">He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">because we have sinned against him.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Who has a word from the <sc>Lordsc> that can explain it?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Why does the land lie in ruins?p> <p class="poetry">Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?&#8221;p>

The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;What do you see, Jeremiah?&#8221; I answered, &#8220;I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.&#8221;p>