18. The children gather wood, and the fathers use the wood to make a fire. The women make the dough for cakes of bread, and they offer them to the Queen Goddess. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to make me angry.
19. But I am not the one the people of Judah are really hurting, says the Lord. They are only hurting themselves and bringing shame upon themselves.
20. “ ‘So this is what the Lord God says: I will pour out my anger on this place, on people and animals, on the trees in the field and the crops in the ground. My anger will be like a hot fire that no one can put out.
21. “ ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Offer burnt offerings along with your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves!
22. When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I did not speak to them and give them commands only about burnt offerings and sacrifices.
23. I also gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Do all that I command so that good things will happen to you.
24. But your ancestors did not listen or pay attention to me. They were stubborn and did whatever their evil hearts wanted. They went backward, not forward.
25. Since the day your ancestors left Egypt, I have sent my servants, the prophets, again and again to you.
26. But your ancestors did not listen or pay attention to me. They were very stubborn and did more evil than their ancestors.’
27. “Jeremiah, you will tell all these things to the people of Judah, but they will not listen to you. You will call to them, but they will not answer you.
28. So say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God. These people do nothing when I correct them. They do not tell the truth; it has disappeared from their lips.
29. “ ‘Cut off your hair and throw it away. Go up to the bare hilltop and cry out, because the Lord has rejected these people. He has turned his back on them, and in his anger will punish them.
30. The people of Judah have done what I said was evil, says the Lord. They have set up their hateful idols in the place where I have chosen to be worshiped and have made it unclean.