2-3. One generation after anotherhas set up pagan altarsand worshipped the goddess Asheraheverywhere in your country—on hills and mountains,and under large trees.So I'll take everything you own,including your altars,and give it allto your enemies.
4. You will lose the landthat I gave you,and I will make you slavesin a foreign country,because you have made my angerblaze up like a firethat won't stop burning.
5. I, the Lord, have put a curseon those who turn from meand trust in human strength.
6. They will dry up like a bushin salty desert soil,where nothing can grow.
7. But I will bless thosewho trust me.
8. They will be like treesgrowing beside a stream—trees with roots that reachdown to the water,and with leavesthat are always green.They bear fruit every yearand are never worriedby a lack of rain.
9. You people of Judahare so deceitfulthat you even fool yourselves,and you can't change.
19-20. The Lord said:Jeremiah, stand at each city gate in Jerusalem, including the one the king uses, and speak to him and everyone else. Tell them I have said:I am the Lord, so pay attention.
21-24. If you value your lives, don't do any work on the Sabbath. Don't carry anything through the city gates or through the door of your house, or anywhere else. Keep the Sabbath day sacred!I gave this command to your ancestors, but they were stubborn and refused to obey or to be corrected. But if you obey,
25. then Judah and Jerusalem will always be ruled by kings from David's family. The king and his officials will ride through these gates on horses or in chariots, and the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be with them. There will always be people living in Jerusalem,
26. and others will come here from the nearby villages, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from the hill country and the foothills to the west, and from the Southern Desert. They will bring sacrifices to please me and to give me thanks, as well as offerings of grain and incense.
27. But if you keep on carrying things through the city gates on the Sabbath and keep treating it as any other day, I will set fire to these gates and burn down the whole city, including the fortresses.