6. You must not be hard on the strangers, the orphans and widows. Don’t kill innocent people in this place! Don’t follow other gods, or they will ruin your lives.
7. If you do these things, I will let you live in this land. This is the land I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.
8. “‘But look! You are trusting lies. Such trust is useless.
9. Will you steal and murder? Will you be guilty of adultery? Will you falsely accuse other people? Will you worship the false god Baal? And will you follow other gods you have not known?
10. If you do that, do you think you can come before me? Can you stand in this place where I have chosen to be worshiped? Do you think you can say, “We are safe!” Are you safe to do all these hated things?
11. This is the place where I have chosen to be worshiped. Is it nothing more to you than a hideout for robbers? I have been watching you, says the Lord!
12. “‘You people of Judah, go now to the town of Shiloh. It was there that I first made a place to be worshiped. Go there and see what I did because of the evil things they had done.
13. You people of Israel were doing all these evil things, says the Lord. I spoke to you again and again. But you did not listen to me. I called you, but you did not answer.
14. So I will destroy the place where I have chosen to be worshiped in Jerusalem. You trust in that place. I gave it to you and your ancestors. But I will destroy it just as I destroyed Shiloh.
15. I will push you away from me. I will do it just as I pushed away your brothers, the people of Israel!’
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!