Jeremiah 13:15-27

Listen and pay attention. Don’t be too proud, because the LORD has spoken to you. Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness and before you slip and fall on the dark hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it into thick darkness; he will change it into deep gloom. If you don’t listen to him, I will cry secretly because of your pride. I will cry painfully, and my eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s people will be captured. Tell this to the king and the queen mother: “Come down from your thrones, because your beautiful crowns have fallen from your heads.” The cities of southern Judah are locked up, and no one can open them. All Judah will be taken as captives to a foreign land; they will be carried away completely. Jerusalem, look up and see the people coming from the north. Where is the flock God gave you to care for, the flock you bragged about? What will you say when they appoint as your heads those you had thought were your friends? Won’t you have much pain and trouble, like a woman giving birth to a baby? You might ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It happened because of your many sins. Because of your sins, your skirt was torn off and your body has been treated badly. Can a person from Cush change the color of his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? In the same way, Jerusalem, you cannot change and do good, because you are accustomed to doing evil. “I will scatter you like chaff that is blown away by the desert wind. This is what will happen to you; this is your part in my plans,” says the LORD. “Because you forgot me and trusted in false gods, I will pull your skirts up over your face so everyone will see your shame. I have seen the terrible things you have done: your acts of adultery and your snorting, your prostitution, your hateful acts on the hills and in the fields. How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem. How long will you continue being unclean?”