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The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh,
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'Hear the terms of this covenant; tell them to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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Tell them, "Yahweh, God of Israel, says this: Cursed be anyone who will not listen to the terms of this covenant
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which I ordained for your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of that iron-foundry. Listen to my voice, I told them, carry out all my orders, then you will be my people and I shall be your God,
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so that I may fulfil the oath I swore to your ancestors, that I may give them a country flowing with milk and honey, as is the case today." ' I replied, 'So be it, Yahweh!'
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Then Yahweh said to me, 'Proclaim all these terms in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, "Listen to the terms of this covenant and obey them.
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For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I solemnly warned them, and have persistently warned them until today, saying: Listen to my voice.
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But they did not listen, did not pay attention; instead, each followed his own stubborn and wicked inclinations. And against them, in consequence, I put into action the words of this covenant which I had ordered them to obey and which they had not obeyed." '
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Yahweh said to me, 'Plainly there is conspiracy among the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.
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They have reverted to the sins of their ancestors who refused to listen to my words: they too are following other gods and serving them. The House of Israel and the House of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their ancestors.
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And so, Yahweh says this, "I shall now bring a disaster on them which they cannot escape; they will call to me for help, but I shall not listen to them.
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The towns of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem will then go and call for help to the gods to whom they burn incense, but these will be no help at all to them in their time of distress!
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"For you have as many gods as you have towns, Judah! You have built as many altars to Shame, as many incense altars to Baal, as Jerusalem has streets!
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"You, for your part, must not intercede for this people, nor raise either plea or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when their distress forces them to call to me for help."
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'What is my beloved doing in my house? She has achieved her wicked plans. Can vows and consecrated meat turn disaster from you for you to be so happy?
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"Green olive-tree covered in fine fruit", was Yahweh's name for you. With a shattering noise he has set fire to it, its branches are broken.'
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And Yahweh Sabaoth, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you because of the evil the House of Israel and the House of Judah have done, provoking me by burning incense to Baal.
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Yahweh informed me and I knew it; you then revealed their scheming to me.
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I for my part was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughterhouse, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, 'Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may no longer be remembered!'
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Yahweh Sabaoth, whose judgement is upright, tester of motives and thoughts, I shall see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.
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Against the people of Anathoth who are determined to kill me and say to me, 'Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh or you will die at our hands!'
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Yahweh says this, 'I am about to punish them. Their young people will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.
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Not one will be left when I bring disaster on the people of Anathoth, when the year for punishing them comes.'
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