Jeremiah 11
11
Judah Has Broken the Lord's Agreement
1-3The Lord God told me to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
I, the Lord, am warning you that I will put a curse on anyone who doesn't keep the agreement I made with Israel. So pay attention to what it says. 4My commands haven't changed since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, a nation that seemed like a blazing furnace where iron ore is melted. I told your ancestors that if they obeyed my commands, I would be their God, and they would be my people. 5Then I did what I had promised and gave them this wonderful land, where you now live.
“Yes, Lord,” I replied, “that's true.”
6Then the Lord told me to say to everyone on the streets of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah:
Pay attention to the commands in my agreement with you. 7Ever since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I have been telling your people to obey me. But you and your ancestors 8have always been stubborn. You have refused to listen, and instead you have done whatever your sinful hearts have desired.
You have not kept the agreement we made, so I will make you suffer every curse that goes with it.
9The Lord said to me:
Jeremiah, the people of Judah and Jerusalem are plotting against me. 10They have sinned in the same way their ancestors did, by turning from me and worshiping other gods. The northern kingdom of Israel broke the agreement I made with your ancestors, and now the southern kingdom of Judah#11.10 Israel … Judah: See the note at 2.4. has done the same.
11Here is what I've decided to do. I will bring suffering on the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and no one will escape. They will beg me to help, but I won't listen to their prayers. 12-13Then they will offer sacrifices to their other gods and ask them for help. After all, the people of Judah have more gods than towns, and more shameful altars for Baal than there are streets in Jerusalem. But those gods won't be able to rescue the people of Judah from disaster.
14Jeremiah, don't pray for these people or beg me to rescue them. If you do, I won't listen, and I certainly won't listen if they pray!
15Then the Lord told me to say to the people of Judah:
You are my chosen people,
but you have no right
to be here in my temple,
doing such evil things.
The sacrifices you offer me
won't protect you from disaster,
so stop celebrating.#11.15 celebrating: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 15.
16Once you were like an olive tree
covered with fruit.
But soon I will send a noisy mob
to break off your branches
and set you on fire.
17I am the Lord All-Powerful. You people of Judah were like a tree that I had planted, but you have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal, just as the northern kingdom did. And now I'm going to pull you up by the roots.
The Plot To Kill Jeremiah
* 18Some people plotted to kill me.
And like a lamb
being led to the butcher,
I knew nothing
about their plans.
19But then the Lord told me
that they had planned
to chop me down like a tree—
fruit and all—
so that no one would ever
remember me again.
20 #
Ws 1.6-9. I prayed, “Lord All-Powerful,
you always do what is right,
and you know every thought.
So I trust you to help me
and to take revenge.”
21Then the Lord said:
Jeremiah, some men from Anathoth#11.21 Anathoth: Jeremiah's hometown (see 1.1). say they will kill you, if you keep on speaking for me. 22But I will punish them. Their young men will die in battle, and their children will starve to death. 23And when I am finished, no one from their families will be left alive.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 11
11
1This is the Lord's message that came to Jeremiah: 2Listen to the terms of this agreement, and then repeat them to the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
3Tell them this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: You are cursed if you don't obey the terms of this agreement. 4I made this agreement with your forefathers when I led them out of Egypt, out of the iron-making furnace, saying, “Obey me, and do everything I order you to do, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.” 5I did this to fulfill what I promised to your forefathers—to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it still is today.
Amen, Lord, I answered.
6Then the Lord told me, Go and publicly announce this whole message in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Pay attention to the terms of this agreement and do what they say. 7From the time I led your forefathers out of Egypt until now, I seriously warned them time and again, saying, “Do what I tell you!” 8But they refused to obey, they wouldn't listen. Instead each of them followed their own stubborn and evil thinking. I had ordered them to follow the agreement, but they didn't do so. So I brought down on them all the curses contained in the agreement.
9The Lord told me, There is a rebellion happening among the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. 10They have gone back to the sins of their forefathers who refused to obey what I said. They have gone to worship other gods. The people of Israel and Judah have broken the agreement I made with their forefathers.
11So this is what the Lord says: I'm going to bring upon them a disaster they won't be able to escape. They will cry out to me for help, but I won't listen to them. 12Then the people in the towns of Judah and Jerusalem will go and call out for help to the gods they've been burning incense to, but these gods won't be able to do anything to save them in their time of trouble. 13You certainly have as many gods as you have towns, Judah! You have built shameful altars, altars to burn incense to Baal. You have as many altars as the streets of Jerusalem.
14Jeremiah, don't pray for these people. Don't cry for help or offer a prayer on their behalf, because I won't be listening when they cry out to me in the time of their trouble.
15What right do the people I love have to be in my Temple when they've done so many evil things? Do you think the meat of sacrifices will save you? When disaster strikes will you be happy?#11:15. The meaning of this verse is subject to various interpretations.
16At one time the Lord said you were a healthy olive tree, full of leaves and bearing beautiful fruit. But with a great noise he will set fire to it, destroying its branches. 17I, the Lord Almighty, was the one who planted you, but I have announced you will be destroyed because of the evil that the people of Israel and Judah have committed, making me angry by burning incense to Baal.
18The Lord told me about it,#11:18. Presumably referring back to the rebellion mentioned in verse 9. so I knew. Then he showed me what they were actually doing. 19I was like a trusting little lamb being led away to be slaughtered. I didn't know that they had been plotting against me. They said, “Let's destroy the tree along with everything it produces. Let's kill him so no one will even remember his name.”
20I appeal to you, Lord Almighty, you who judge rightly and examine people's thoughts and feelings, let me see how you punish them, because I've left my case in your hands.
21So this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathoth who are trying to kill you, telling you, “Don't prophesy in the name of the Lord, or we'll kill you.” 22This is the reply of the Lord Almighty: I will punish them. Their young men will be killed by the sword; their sons and daughters will be killed by famine. 23There won't be anyone left because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth at the time when they're punished.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com