Jeremiah is exhausted, abused, and is almost ready to give up. He gets angry with God, and God guarantees his safety from his persecuters.

God declares that even if the great Moses and Samuel were praying for the people, they could not avert the decree of destruction. God then laments the destruction, He must do it, but it is oh so painful.

Famine and drought strike the land, and the people pray, but God won't listen anymore. They have passed the "point of no return". God instructs the prophet not to pray, but he prays anyway.

The prophet warns the people that the coming suffering will be overwhelming like aa intoxicated drunkenness. Jeremiah begs the people to please humble themselves before God and mend their ways before its too late. He then turns to the Kings and nobles and blames them for their failed leadership.

God asks Jeremiah to buy a linen belt, and neglect it and let it rot. The belt was a symbol of strength, but when neglected it became rotten and useless. So to the once proud people of Israel. They neglected to listen to God, and they lost their purpose.

Jeremiah , upon hearing of the plot to kill him, gets angry with God. Why do You allow evil to prosper like this? First he asks God to destroy the evildoers, but then the prophet argues out loud. Why all of this destruction? Why did you let them propser and become so evil? God responds, I love My people, it is they who deviated from the path I laid out for them. I will therefore hand them over to their enemies, but know this: The people who make Israel suffer will have their day of reckoning as well. If they learn My ways they will be a part of the redemption, if not, they will be erased.

God reminds the people of the covenant He made with them when they were freed from Egypt. It was a two way deal, and the people haven't held up their end of the bargain. We also learn of the conspiracies of the people to murder the prophet Jeremiah. Easier to get rid of the messenger than to take heed of his painful message.

God's anger is imminent, the trouble is coming from babylon. Please God don;t allow Your wrath to consume us. Act with justice, and we deserve punishment, but we arent ALL bad. Turn your wrath against those who are too arrogant to ever call out Your name. They cause indiscriminate suffering, God however acts with justice.

God tells the circumcized Jews that it is not the physical circumcision that matters, but the purity of heart. The prophet then ridicules the folly of those who create an idol and then worship it and invent narratives and philosophies that are meaningless. The true God created us, not vice versa. He is all powerful, and cannot be compared to anything else in the world.

The prophet describes a society so full of corruption that one cannot even trust his own family. Backstabbing and slander have become a way of life. This God cannot stand for. God makes it very clear what He wants; justice, kindess, righteousness.