Study Desk

There's no use offering me sweet frankincense from Sheba. Keep your fragrant calamus imported from distant lands! I will not accept your burnt offerings. Your sacrifices have no pleasing aroma for me."

Oh, my people, dress yourselves in burlap and sit among the ashes. Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son. For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you!

The bellows fiercely fan the flames to burn out the corruption. But it does not purify them, for the wickedness remains.

I will label them ‘Rejected Silver,' for I, the Lord , am discarding them."

So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

"Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don't beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you.

Shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the Lord has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.'

So beware, for the time is coming," says the Lord , "when that garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury the bodies in Topheth until there is no more room for them.

The bodies of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away.

I listen to their conversations and don't hear a word of truth. Is anyone sorry for doing wrong? Does anyone say, "What a terrible thing I have done"? No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!

These wise teachers will fall into the trap of their own foolishness, for they have rejected the word of the Lord . Are they so wise after all?

They offer superficial treatments for my people's mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace.

"Then the people will say, ‘Why should we wait here to die? Come, let's go to the fortified towns and die there. For the Lord our God has decreed our destruction and has given us a cup of poison to drink because we sinned against the Lord .

We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.'

Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people?

If only my head were a pool of water and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered.

Oh, that I could go away and forget my people and live in a travelers' shack in the desert. For they are all adulterers— a pack of treacherous liars.

"My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot out lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. They only go from bad to worse. They do not know me," says the Lord .

"Beware of your neighbor! Don't even trust your brother! For brother takes advantage of brother, and friend slanders friend.

For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows. They speak friendly words to their neighbors while scheming in their heart to kill them.