<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah concerning<n id="1" /> all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, those in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the region of southern Egypt.<n id="2" />

I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over<n id="1" /> again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Then Jeremiah replied to all the people, both men and women, who responded to him in this way.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Early in the reign<n id="1" /> of King Zedekiah of Judah, the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">I also told the priests and all the people, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that<n id="1" /> the valuable articles taken from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon.<n id="2" /> But they are prophesying a lie to you.

The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8216;You women<n id="1" /> have confirmed by your actions what you vowed with your lips! You said, &#8220;We will certainly carry out our vows to sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.&#8221; Well, then fulfill your vows! Carry them out!&#8217;<n id="2" />

&#8220;Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;I have fond memories of you,<n id="2" /> how devoted you were to me in your early years.<n id="3" /> I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

<p class="poetry">&#8220;If a man divorces his wifep> <p class="poetry">and she leaves him and becomes another man&#8217;s wife,p> <p class="poetry">he may not take her back again.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Doing that would utterly defile the land.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">So what makes you think you can return to me?&#8221;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

I also explicitly commanded them:<n id="1" /> &#8220;Obey me. If you do, I<n id="2" /> will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you<n id="3" /> and things will go well with you.&#8221;

<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>

Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors<n id="1" /> to keep<n id="2" /> when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace.<n id="3" /> I said at that time,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement<n id="5" /> exactly as I commanded you. If you do,<n id="6" /> you will be my people and I will be your God.<n id="7" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: &#8216;Listen to the terms of my covenant with you<n id="1" /> and carry them out!

So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem<n id="1" /> this: The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you.<n id="2" /> So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing.<n id="3" /> Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.&#8217;<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah<n id="1" /> when King Zedekiah<n id="2" /> sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah.<n id="3" /> Zedekiah sent them to Jeremiah to ask,<n id="4" />

<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" />

But just suppose you continue to say, &#8216;The message of the <sc>Lordsc> is burdensome.&#8217; Here is what the <sc>Lordsc> says will happen: &#8216;I sent word to you that you must not say, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s message is burdensome.&#8221; But you used the words &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s message is burdensome&#8221; anyway.

He said through them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing.<n id="2" /> If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession.<n id="3" />

Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the <sc>Lordsc> had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some<n id="1" /> of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, &#8220;You deserve to die!<n id="2" />

How dare you claim the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;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!&#8221;<n id="1" /> Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah.p>

Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;This man should be condemned to die<n id="2" /> because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so<n id="3" /> with your own ears.&#8221;p>