16. “As for you, Jeremiah, don’t pray for these people. Don’t cry out for them or ask anything for them. Don’t beg me to help them. I will not listen to you.
17. Don’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah? Don’t you see what they are doing in the streets of Jerusalem?
18. This is what the people of Judah are doing: The children gather wood. The fathers use the wood to make a fire. The women make the dough for cakes of bread. And they offer them to the Queen Goddess. They pour out drink offerings to worship other gods. They do this to make me angry.
19. But I am not the one the people of Judah are really hurting, says the Lord. They are only hurting themselves. They are bringing shame upon themselves.
20. “‘So this is what the Lord says: I will pour out my anger on this place. I will pour it out on man and animal. I will pour out my anger on the trees in the field. And I will pour it out on the crops in the ground. My anger will be like a hot fire. And no one will be able to put it out.
21. “‘This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: Go and offer as many burnt offerings and sacrifices as you want! Eat the meat of those sacrifices yourselves!
22. I brought your ancestors out of Egypt. I spoke to them. But I did not give them commands only about burnt offerings and sacrifices.
23. I also gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Do all that I command, and good things will happen to you.
24. But your ancestors did not listen or pay attention to me. They were stubborn and did whatever their evil hearts wanted. They went backward, not forward.
25. Since the day your ancestors left Egypt, I have sent you my servants, the prophets. I sent them to you again and again.
26. But your ancestors did not listen or pay attention to me. They were very stubborn. And they did more evil than their ancestors.’