Jeremiah 11:9–23

⁹And the LORD told me, “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have returned to the sins of their forefathers who refused to obey My words. They have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their fathers.

¹¹Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they have been burning incense, but these gods certainly will not save them in their time of disaster. ¹³Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up— the altars to burn incense to Baal— are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

¹⁴As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in their time of disaster.

¹⁵What right has My beloved in My house,

having carried out so many evil schemes?

Can consecrated meat avert your doom? When you are wicked,

then you rejoice.

¹⁶The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree,

beautiful with well-formed fruit.

But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire,

and its branches will be consumed.

¹⁷The LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you on account of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have brought upon themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”

¹⁸And the LORD informed me, so I knew.

Then You showed me their deeds.

¹⁹For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter;

I did not know that they had plotted against me:

“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;

let us cut him off from the land of the living,

that his name may be remembered no more.”

²⁰O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously,

who examines the heart^b and mind,

let me see Your vengeance upon them,

for to You I have committed my cause.

²¹Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, “You must not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand.” ²²So this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. ²³There will be no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”