6. Stop taking advantage of foreigners, orphans, and widows. Don't kill innocent people. And stop worshipping other gods.
7. Then I will let you enjoy a long life in this land I gave your ancestors.
8. But just look at what is happening! You put your trust in worthless lies.
9. You steal and murder; you lie in court and are unfaithful in marriage. You worship idols and offer incense to Baal, when these gods have never done anything for you.
10. And then you come into my temple and worship me! Do you think I will protect you so that you can go on sinning?
11. You are thieves, and you have made my temple your hideout. But I've seen everything you have done.
12. Go to Shiloh, where my sacred tent once stood. Take a look at what I did there. My people Israel sinned, and so I destroyed Shiloh!
13. While you have been sinning, I have been trying to talk to you, but you refuse to listen.
14. Don't think this temple will protect you. Long ago I told your ancestors to build it and worship me here, but now I have decided to tear it down, just as I destroyed Shiloh.
15. And as for you, people of Judah, I'm going to send you away from my land, just as I sent away the people of Ephraim and the other northern tribes.
16. Jeremiah, don't pray for these people! I, the Lord, would refuse to listen.
17. Do you see what the people of Judah are doing in their towns and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18. Children gather firewood, their fathers build fires, and their mothers mix dough to bake bread for the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. They even offer wine sacrifices to other gods, just to insult me.
19. But they are not only insulting me; they are also insulting themselves by doing these shameful things.
20. And now, I, the Lord All-Powerful, will flood Judah with my fiery anger until nothing is left—no people or animals, no trees or crops.
21. The Lord told me to say to the people of Judah:I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, but I won't accept sacrifices from you. So don't even bother bringing them to me. You might as well just cook the meat for yourselves.