23. I also gave them another command. I said, 'Obey me. Then I will be your God. And you will be my people. Live the way I command you to live. Then things will go well with you.'
24. "But they did not listen. They refused to pay any attention to me. Instead, they did what their stubborn and evil hearts wanted them to do. They went backward and not forward.
25. "Again and again I sent my servants the prophets to you. They came to you day after day. They prophesied from the time your people left Egypt until now.
26. "But the people did not listen. They refused to pay any attention to me. They were stubborn. They did more evil things than their people who lived before them.
27. "Jeremiah, when you tell them all of that, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not answer.
28. "So say to them, 'You are a nation that has not obeyed the Lord your God. You did not pay attention when you were corrected. Truth has died out. You do not tell the truth anymore.' "
29. The Lord says to the people of Jerusalem, "Cut off your hair. Throw it away. Sing a song of sadness on the bare hilltops. I am very angry with you. I have turned my back on you. I have deserted you.