12. But they will say, “No use! We will follow our own devices; each one of us will behave according to the stubbornness of our evil hearts!”
13. Therefore thus says the Lord:Ask among the nations—who has ever heard the like?Truly horrible thingsvirgin Israel has done!
14. Does the snow of Lebanondesert the rocky heights?Do the gushing waters dry upthat flow fresh down the mountains?
15. Yet my people have forgotten me:they offer incense in vain.They stumble off their paths,the ways of old,Traveling on bypaths,not the beaten track.
16. Their land shall be made a waste,an object of endless hissing:All passersby will be horrified,shaking their heads.
17. Like the east wind, I will scatter thembefore their enemies;I will show them my back, not my face,in their day of disaster.
18. “Come,” they said, “let us devise a plot against Jeremiah, for instruction will not perish from the priests, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. Come, let us destroy him by his own tongue. Let us pay careful attention to his every word.”
19. Pay attention to me, O Lord,and listen to what my adversaries say.
20. Must good be repaid with evilthat they should dig a pit to take my life?Remember that I stood before youto speak on their behalf,to turn your wrath away from them.