you say, 'I am innocent; surely the LORD is no longer angry with me.' But I, the LORD, will punish you because you deny that you have sinned.

When they ask why I did all these things, tell them, Jeremiah, that just as they turned away from me and served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve strangers in a land that is not theirs."

If you ask why all this has happened to you---why your clothes have been torn off and you have been raped---it is because your sin is so terrible.

"Afterward many foreigners will pass by and ask one another why I, the LORD, have done such a thing to this great city.

Then they will answer that it is because you have abandoned your covenant with me, your God, and have worshiped and served other gods."

Then the whole world will ask, 'Why did the LORD do this to their land? What was the reason for his fierce anger?'

And the answer will be, 'It is because the LORD's people broke the covenant they had made with him, the God of their ancestors, when he brought them out of Egypt.

This Temple will become a pile of ruins, and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. 'Why did the LORD do this to this land and this Temple?' they will ask.

People will answer, 'It is because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the LORD has brought this disaster on them.' "

'We are rich,' they say. 'We've made a fortune. And no one can accuse us of getting rich dishonestly.'