Cursed Is the Man Who Does Not Hear
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, Yahweh, the God of Israel says: ‘Cursed is the man who doesn’t hear the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace,’ saying, ‘Obey my voice and do them, according to all which I command you; so you shall be my people, and I will be your God; 5 that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is today.” Then I answered, and said, “Amen, Yahweh.” 6 Yahweh said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, “Obey my voice.” 8 Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them.’” 9 Yahweh said to me, “A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on them which they will not be able to escape; and they will cry to me, but I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.’ 14 “Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble. 15 What has my beloved to do in my house, since she has behaved lewdly with many, and the holy flesh has passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice.” 16 Yahweh called your name, “A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit.” With the noise of a great roar he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken. 17 For Yahweh of Armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.
Jeremiah is sent to enforce the terms of an old covenant and says amen to its curses, and is then told that a conspiracy has been formed to keep the terms out.
The commission here is legal. Jeremiah is to recite the words of the covenant made when Israel came out of the iron furnace of Egypt, and the recital carries a curse for the man who will not hear. What makes the scene remarkable is his reply. He says Amen, Yahweh. The prophet agrees to the sentence before he delivers it, and puts himself under it in the process. Everything he suffers in the next thirty chapters follows from that agreement, since the curse he endorsed falls on his own city and his own relatives.
The covenant's terms are then quoted, and their order is worth marking. Obey my voice and do them, so you shall be my people and I will be your God. Obedience first, relationship second, and the land held as the fulfillment of an oath rather than as a possession. Judah's whole security rested on that oath, and the book argues that the oath had conditions attached which have now been triggered. The judgment is therefore not God breaking his word. It is the other clause of the same word taking effect.
What God then reports is not idolatry but a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The word is political and it implies coordination, secrecy and intent. The apostasy is not described as drift or weakness at this point, but as something organized. The description is followed by the count that appeared earlier in almost identical words: as many gods as cities, as many altars as streets Jeremiah 2:28. A conspiracy on that scale requires no meetings. It is a settled national preference with the machinery already built.
So the intercession is forbidden a second time, and this refusal is stated symmetrically. They will cry to God and he will not listen; they will cry to the gods they burned incense to and those will not save them at all. Both doors are described as closed, and the second is closed by the nature of what stands behind it. The chapter ends with a name and its ruin. God had called them a green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit, and the fire is kindled on it with a great roar. An olive is a slow tree, planted for grandchildren. The one who planted it is the one now pronouncing against it — a detail the last verse insists on, along with the note that what they did they did to themselves.
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