Then I said, “But Lord God, I don’t know how to speak. I am only a boy.”

“Jeremiah, get ready. Stand up and speak to the people. Tell them everything I tell you to say. Don’t be afraid of the people. If you are afraid of them, I will give you good reason to be afraid of them.

“Go and speak to the people of Jerusalem. Say to them: This is what the Lord says: ‘When you were a young nation, you were faithful to me. You loved me like a young bride. You followed me through the desert. It was a land that had never been planted.

Don’t run until your feet are bare or until your throat is dry. But you say, ‘It’s no use! I love those other gods. I must worship them!’

You really know how to chase after love. Even the worst women can learn evil ways from you.

Judah Is Unfaithful

“Now a man might divorce his wife. And she might leave him and marry another man. Should her first husband come back to her again? If he went back to her, the land would become completely unclean. But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers. And now you want to come back to me?” says the Lord.

“Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah. Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute? You have sat by the road waiting for lovers. You sat there like an Arab in the desert. You made the land unclean. This was because you did evil and were like a prostitute.

Go and speak this message toward the north: ‘Come back, unfaithful people of Israel,’ says the Lord. ‘I will stop frowning at you. I am full of mercy,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not be angry with you forever.

Then you may say when you make a promise, ‘As surely as the Lord lives.’ And you can say it in a truthful, honest and right way. Then the nations will be blessed by the Lord. And they will praise the Lord for what he has done.”

Judah, you destroyed nation, what are you doing? Why do you put on your finest dress? Why do you put on your gold jewelry? Why do you put on your eye shadow? You make yourself beautiful, but it is all useless. Your lovers hate you. They want to kill you.

No One Is Right

The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and think about these things. Search the public squares of the city. See if you can find one person who does honest things. Find just one who searches for the truth. If you can, I will forgive this city.

Lord, don’t you look for truth in people? You hit the people of Judah. But they didn’t feel any pain. You crushed them, but they refused to learn what is right. They became more stubborn than a rock. They refused to turn back to God.

Listen, family of Israel,” says the Lord. “I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you. It is an old nation that has lasted a long time. The people there speak a language you do not know. You cannot understand what they say.

The prophets tell lies. The priests take power into their own hands. And my people love it this way. But what will you do when the end comes?

To whom can I speak? Whom can I warn? Who will listen to me? The people of Israel have closed ears! So they cannot hear my warnings. They don’t like the word of the Lord. They don’t want to listen to it!

So say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God. These people do nothing when I correct them. They do not tell the truth. It has disappeared from their lips.

The bones will be spread on the ground under the sun, moon and stars the people loved and served. They went after these gods, searched them out and worshiped them. No one will gather up the bones and bury them. So they will be like dung thrown on the ground.

Judah’s Failures

“They use their tongues like a bow. They shoot lies from their mouths like arrows. Lies, not truth, have grown strong in the land. They go from one evil thing to another. They do not know who I am,” says the Lord.

Everyone lies to his friend. No one speaks the truth. The people of Judah have taught their tongues to lie. They become tired from sinning.

Their tongues are like sharp arrows. Their mouths speak lies. Everyone speaks nicely to his neighbor. But he is secretly planning to attack him.

“What is my lover, Judah, doing in my Temple? She makes many evil plans. Does she think animal sacrifices will stop her punishment? When you do your evil, then you are happy.”

So the Lord speaks about the men from Anathoth who were planning to kill Jeremiah. Those men say, “Don’t prophesy in the name of the Lord. If you do, we will kill you!”

You have put the evil people here. They are like plants with strong roots. They grow and produce fruit. With their mouths they speak well of you. But their hearts are really far away from you.

These men are your own brothers. Members of your own family are making plans against you. People from your own family are crying out against you. Don’t trust them, even when they speak to you like friends!

“I have left Israel. I have left my people. I have given the people I love to their enemies.