Next, God calls up the wicked: “What are you up to, quoting my laws, talking like we are good friends? You never answer the door when I call; you treat my words like garbage. If you find a thief, you make him your buddy; adulterers are your friends of choice. Your mouth drools filth; lying is a serious art form with you. You stab your own brother in the back, rip off your little sister. I kept a quiet patience while you did these things; you thought I went along with your game. I’m calling you on the carpet, now, laying your wickedness out in plain sight.
Jeremiah 11:15The Message“What business do the ones I love have figuring out how to get off the hook? And right in the house of worship! Do you think making promises and devising pious programs will save you from doom? Do you think you can get out of this by becoming more religious? A mighty oak tree, majestic and glorious— that’s how I once described you. But it will only take a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning to leave you a shattered wreck. See the chapter |
29 Cross References
God says: “Can you produce your mother’s divorce papers proving I got rid of her? Can you produce a receipt proving I sold you? Of course you can’t. It’s your sins that put you here, your wrongs that got you shipped out. So why didn’t anyone come when I knocked? Why didn’t anyone answer when I called? Do you think I’ve forgotten how to help? Am I so decrepit that I can’t deliver? I’m as powerful as ever, and can reverse what I once did: I can dry up the sea with a word, turn river water into desert sand, And leave the fish stinking in the sun, stranded on dry land . . . Turn all the lights out in the sky and pull down the curtain.” * * *
“I will abandon the House of Israel, walk away from my beloved people. I will turn over those I most love to those who are her enemies. She’s been, this one I held dear, like a snarling lion in the jungle, Growling and baring her teeth at me— and I can’t take it anymore. Has this one I hold dear become a preening peacock? But isn’t she under attack by vultures? Then invite all the hungry animals at large, invite them in for a free meal! Foreign, scavenging shepherds will loot and trample my fields, Turn my beautiful, well-cared-for fields into vacant lots of tin cans and thistles. They leave them littered with junk— a ruined land, a land in lament. The whole countryside is a wasteland, and no one will really care. * * *
Then God said to me: “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel stood here and made their case, I wouldn’t feel a thing for this people. Get them out of here. Tell them to get lost! And if they ask you, ‘So where do we go?’ tell them God says, “‘If you’re assigned to die, go and die; if assigned to war, go and get killed; If assigned to starve, go starve; if assigned to exile, off to exile you go!’
“When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man who wasn’t properly dressed. He said to him, ‘Friend, how dare you come in here looking like that!’ The man was speechless. Then the king told his servants, ‘Get him out of here—fast. Tie him up and ship him to hell. And make sure he doesn’t get back in.’
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