1. People of Judah,your sins cannot be erased.They are written on your heartslike words chiselled in stoneor carved on the cornersof your altars.
2-3. One generation after anotherhas set up pagan altarsand worshipped the goddess Asheraheverywhere in your country—on hills and mountains,and under large trees.So I'll take everything you own,including your altars,and give it allto your enemies.
4. You will lose the landthat I gave you,and I will make you slavesin a foreign country,because you have made my angerblaze up like a firethat won't stop burning.
5. I, the Lord, have put a curseon those who turn from meand trust in human strength.
6. They will dry up like a bushin salty desert soil,where nothing can grow.
7. But I will bless thosewho trust me.
8. They will be like treesgrowing beside a stream—trees with roots that reachdown to the water,and with leavesthat are always green.They bear fruit every yearand are never worriedby a lack of rain.
9. You people of Judahare so deceitfulthat you even fool yourselves,and you can't change.
10. But I know your deedsand your thoughts,and I will make sureyou get what you deserve.
11. You cheated others,but everything you gainedwill fly away, like birdshatched from stolen eggs.Then you will discoverwhat fools you are.
12. Our Lord, your templeis a glorious thronethat has stood on a mountainfrom the beginning.
13. You are a spring of watergiving Israel life and hope.But if the people rejectwhat you have told me,they will be swept awaylike words written in dust.
14. You, Lord, are the one I praise.So heal me and rescue me!Then I will be completely welland perfectly safe.
15. The people of Judah say to me,“Jeremiah, you claimed to tell uswhat the Lord has said.So why hasn't it come true?”
16. Our Lord, you chose meto care for your people,and that's what I have done.You know everything I have said,and I have never onceasked you to punish them.
17. I trust you for protectionin times of trouble,so don't frighten me.
18. Keep me from failureand disgrace,but make my enemies failand be disgraced.Send destruction to maketheir worst fears come true.
19-20. The Lord said:Jeremiah, stand at each city gate in Jerusalem, including the one the king uses, and speak to him and everyone else. Tell them I have said:I am the Lord, so pay attention.
21-24. If you value your lives, don't do any work on the Sabbath. Don't carry anything through the city gates or through the door of your house, or anywhere else. Keep the Sabbath day sacred!I gave this command to your ancestors, but they were stubborn and refused to obey or to be corrected. But if you obey,
25. then Judah and Jerusalem will always be ruled by kings from David's family. The king and his officials will ride through these gates on horses or in chariots, and the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be with them. There will always be people living in Jerusalem,
26. and others will come here from the nearby villages, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from the hill country and the foothills to the west, and from the Southern Desert. They will bring sacrifices to please me and to give me thanks, as well as offerings of grain and incense.
27. But if you keep on carrying things through the city gates on the Sabbath and keep treating it as any other day, I will set fire to these gates and burn down the whole city, including the fortresses.