But how can it rest ¹  when I, the Lord, have ²  given it orders? I have ordered it to attack the people of Ashkelon and the seacoast. ³ 

I, the Lord, affirm that ¹  I know how arrogant they are. But their pride is ill-founded. Their boastings will prove to be false. ² 

And the Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations ¹  where I will banish them.”

“‘How sick is your heart, declares the sovereign Lord, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute.

This is how you assessed ¹  the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled ²  your nipples and squeezed ³  your young breasts.

Moreover, they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the ceremonially unclean and the clean. ¹ 

How awful that day will be! ¹  For the day of the Lord is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. ² 

“They do not know how to do what is right.” (The Lord is speaking.) “They store up ¹  the spoils of destructive violence ²  in their fortresses.

When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said, “Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ¹  How can Jacob survive? ²  He is too weak!” ³ 

How long, Lord, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, “Violence!” But you do not intervene! ¹ 

This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance, ¹  for they taunted and verbally harassed ²  the people of the Lord who commands armies.

‘Who among you survivors saw the former splendor of this temple? ¹  How does it look to you now? Isn’t it nothing by comparison?

Can a person rob ¹  God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! ² 

If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears ¹  – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, ²  and he rebuked you last night.”

This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, ¹  the one who formed him, concerning things to come: ²  “How dare you question me ³  about my children! How dare you tell me what to do with ⁴  the work of my own hands!

“Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem: ¹  ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have fond memories of you, ²  how devoted you were to me in your early years. 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.

How long must the land be parched ¹  and the grass in every field be withered? How long ²  must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? ³  For these people boast, “God ⁴  will not see what happens to us.” ⁵ 

The Lord answered, ¹  “If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out, how will you be able to compete with horses? And if you feel secure only ²  in safe and open country, ³  how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River? ⁴ 

I said, ¹  “Lord, you know how I suffer. ²  Take thought of me and care for me. Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me. Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me. Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.

How dare you claim the Lord’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!” ¹  Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah.