11. Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’
12. “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13. “Therefore thus says the Lord: Ask among the nations,Who has heard the like of this?The virgin Israelhas done a very horrible thing.
14. Does the snow of Lebanon leavethe crags of Sirion?Do the mountain waters run dry,the cold flowing streams?
15. But my people have forgotten me;they make offerings to false gods;they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads,and to walk into side roads, not the highway,
16. making their land a horror,a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.
17. Like the east wind I will scatter thembefore the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face,in the day of their calamity.”
18. Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”