15. Then the Lord told me to say to the people of Judah:You are my chosen people,but you have no rightto be here in my temple,doing such terrible things.The sacrifices you offer mewon't protect you from disaster,so stop celebrating.
16. Once you were like an olive treecovered with fruit.But soon I will send a noisy mobto break off your branchesand set you on fire.
17. I am the Lord All-Powerful. You people of Judah were like a tree that I had planted, but you have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal, just as the northern kingdom did. And now I'm going to pull you up by the roots.
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.
20. I prayed, “Lord All-Powerful,you always do what is right,and you know every thought.So I trust you to help meand to take revenge.”
21. Then the Lord said:Jeremiah, some men from Anathoth say they will kill you, if you keep on speaking for me.
22. But I will punish them. Their young men will die in battle, and their children will starve to death.
23. And when I have finished, no one from their families will be left alive.