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The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.
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The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,
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The Call of Jeremiah
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
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Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.
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The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
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The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
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The word of the Lord came to me again: “What do you see?” “I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.”
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I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.
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Israel Forsakes God
The word of the Lord came to me:
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Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel.
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Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.
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Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way?
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Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
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Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
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Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns.
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“You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’?
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Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’” declares the Lord.
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A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the Lord their God.
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“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
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Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
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From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our ancestors’ labor— their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
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Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”
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I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.
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So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.
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“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
