Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 279
32:20-36
J eremiah
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unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of
one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful
God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You have all wisdom and do
great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you
give them what they deserve. You performed miraculous signs and
wonders in the land of Egypt—things still remembered to this day!
And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around
the world. You have made your name famous to this day.
“You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, with
a strong hand and powerful arm, and with overwhelming terror. You
gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors
long before—a land flowing with milk and honey. Our ancestors came
and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow
your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why
you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.
“See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls!
Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the
Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you
said. And yet, O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field—
paying good money for it before these witnesses—even though the
city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.”
Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “I am the Lord,
the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?
Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will hand this city over to the
Babylonians and to Nebuc hadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will cap
ture it. The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the
city. They will burn down all these houses where the people provoked my
anger by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out liquid
offerings to other gods. Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong
since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds,”
says the Lord. “From the time this city was built until now, it has done
nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.
“The sins of Israel and Judah—the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the
kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets—have stirred up my
anger. My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to re
turn. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruc
tion or obey. They have set up their abominable idols right in my own
Temple, defiling it. They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of
Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech.
I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my
