Keep the Covenant between God and Israel

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

²“Hear the terms of this covenant, and recite them to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem! ³And say to them, Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who will not obey the terms of this covenant, ⁴which I enjoined upon your fathers when I freed them from the land of Egypt, the iron crucible, saying, ‘Obey Me and observe them,^a just as I command you, that you may be My people and I may be your God’—⁵in order to fulfill the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as is now the case.” And I responded, “Amen, Lord.”

⁶And the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these things through the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the terms of this covenant, and perform them. ⁷For I have repeatedly and persistently warned your fathers from the time I brought them out of Egypt to this day, saying: Obey My commands. ⁸But they would not listen or give ear; they all followed the willfulness of their evil hearts. So I have brought upon them all the terms^b of this covenant, because they did not do what I commanded them to do.”

⁹The Lord said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have returned to the iniquities of their fathers of old, who refused to heed My words. They, too, have followed other gods and served them. The House of Israel and the House of Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their fathers.”

¹¹Assuredly, thus said the Lord: I am going to bring upon them disaster from which they will not be able to escape. Then they will cry out to me, but I will not listen to them. ¹²And the townsmen of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they sacrifice; but they will not be able to rescue them in their time of disaster. ¹³For your gods have become as many as your towns, O Judah, and you have set up as many altars to Shame as there are streets in Jerusalem—altars for sacrifice to Baal.

¹⁴As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf; for I will not listen when they call to Me on account of their disaster. [ . . . ]

²¹Assuredly, thus said the Lord of Hosts concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life and say, “You must not prophesy any more in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”—²²Assuredly, thus said the Lord of Hosts: “I am going to deal with them: the young men shall die by the sword, their boys and girls shall die by famine. ²³No remnant shall be left of them, for I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth, the year of their doom.”