The Broken Covenant
Jeremiah receives a word commanding him to announce the covenant to Judah and Jerusalem, beginning with its curse on anyone who refuses obedience. The LORD recalls bringing their fathers out of Egypt and binding Himself to them so they would be His people in the promised land flowing with milk and honey.
T1his is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2“Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. 3You must tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’ 5This was in order to establish the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is to this day.”
Jeremiah is told to proclaim the covenant publicly, because the LORD has warned His people persistently from the Exodus until now to obey His voice. Yet they would not listen and instead followed their evil hearts, so the curses of the covenant have come upon them.
6Then the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear the words of this covenant and carry them out. 7For from the time I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, I strongly warned them again and again, saying, ‘Obey My voice.’ 8Yet they would not obey or incline their ears, but each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant I had commanded them to follow but they did not keep.”
The LORD reveals a conspiracy among Judah and Jerusalem, for the people have returned to ancestral sins, served other gods, and broken the covenant. Therefore disaster is coming that they cannot escape, and the many gods and Baal-altars they trusted will prove as powerless as their numbers are great.
9And the LORD told me, “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. 10They have returned to the sins of their forefathers who refused to obey My words. They have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their fathers. 11Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them. 12Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they have been burning incense, but these gods certainly will not save them in their time of disaster. 13Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up— the altars to burn incense to Baal— are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’
Jeremiah is forbidden to pray for the people, because the LORD will not listen in their hour of trouble. Judah has no right to presume on God's house while pursuing evil, and the nation once called a flourishing olive tree will now be shattered and burned because Israel and Judah provoked the LORD with incense to Baal.
14As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in their time of disaster. 15What right has My beloved in My house, 16The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree, 17The LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you on account of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have brought upon themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”