1-3. The Lord God told me to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:I, the Lord, am warning you that I will put a curse on anyone who doesn't keep the agreement I made with Israel. So pay attention to what it says.
4. My commands haven't changed since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, a nation that seemed like a blazing furnace where iron ore is melted. I told your ancestors that if they obeyed my commands, I would be their God, and they would be my people.
5. Then I did what I had promised and gave them this wonderful land, where you now live.“Yes, Lord,” I replied, “that's true.”
6. Then the Lord told me to say to everyone in the streets of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah:Pay attention to the commands in my agreement with you.
7. Ever since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I have been telling your people to obey me. But you and your ancestors
8. have always been stubborn. You have refused to listen, and instead you have done whatever your sinful hearts have desired.You have not kept the agreement we made, so I will make you suffer every curse that goes with it.
12-13. Then they will offer sacrifices to their other gods and ask them for help. After all, the people of Judah have more gods than towns, and more altars for Baal than there are streets in Jerusalem. But those gods won't be able to rescue the people of Judah from disaster.
18-19. Some people plotted to kill me.And like a lambbeing led to the butcher,I knew nothingabout their plans.But then the Lord told methat they had plannedto chop me down like a tree—fruit and all—so that no one would everremember me again.