Jeremiah 18:11Easy To Read Version“So, Jeremiah, say to the people of Judah and the people that live in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am preparing troubles for you right now. I am making plans against you. So stop doing the evil things that you are doing. Each person must change and start doing good things!’ See the chapter |
King Josiah said, “Go and ask the Lord what we should do. Ask the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah. Ask about the words of this book that was found. The Lord is angry at us. Why? Because our ancestors [272] did not listen to the words of this book. They did not obey all the commands that were written for us!”
Then the enemies of Jeremiah said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah. Surely the teaching of the law by the priest will not be lost. And the advice from the wise men will still be with us. We will still have the words of the prophets. So let us tell lies about him. That will ruin him. We will not pay attention to anything he says.”
Say to those people with you, ‘King of Judah and people of Jerusalem, listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: I will soon make a terrible thing happen to this place! Every person that hears about it will be amazed and full of fear.
“If a man divorces his wife,\par and she leaves him\par and marries another man,\par can that man come back to his wife again?\par No! If that man went back to that woman, {\cf2\super [14]} \par then that land would become ‘dirty.’\par Judah, you acted like a prostitute\par with many lovers (false gods).\par And now you want to come back to me!”\par This message was from the Lord.\par
I sent my servants the prophets to you people of Israel and Judah. I sent them to you again and again. Those prophets said to you, ‘Each of you people of Israel and Judah must stop doing evil things. You must be good. Don’t follow other gods. Don’t worship or serve them. If you obey me, then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.’ But you people have not paid attention to my message.
Sharpen the arrows!\par Get your shields!\par The Lord stirred up the kings\par of the Medes. {\cf2\super [418]} \par He has stirred them up\par because he wants to destroy Babylon.\par The Lord will give the people of Babylon\par the punishment that they deserve.\par The army from Babylon destroyed\par the Lord’s temple {\cf2\super [419]} in Jerusalem.\par So the Lord will give them\par the punishment they should have.\par
I began telling people that they should change their hearts and lives and turn back to God. I told the people to do things that show that they really changed their hearts. I told these things first to people in Damascus. Then I went to Jerusalem and to every part of Judea and told these things to the people there. I also went to the non-Jewish people.