Listen to what the LORD says, you that fear him and obey him: "Because you are faithful to me, some of your own people hate you and will have nothing to do with you. They mock you and say, 'Let the LORD show his greatness and save you, so that we may see you rejoice.' But they themselves will be disgraced!

The LORD's people have denied him and have said, "He won't really do anything. We won't have hard times; we won't have war or famine."

They have said that the prophets are nothing but windbags and that they have no message from the LORD. The LORD God Almighty said to me, "Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up."

The people say to me, "Where are those threats the LORD made against us? Let him carry them out now!"

"Mortal man," he said, "why do the people of Israel repeat this proverb: 'Time goes by, and predictions come to nothing'?

"Mortal man, the Israelites think that your visions and prophecies are about the distant future.

How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the LORD! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light.

It will be like someone who runs from a lion and meets a bear! Or like someone who comes home and puts his hand on the wall---only to be bitten by a snake!

First of all, you must understand that in the last days some people will appear whose lives are controlled by their own lusts. They will make fun of you

and will ask, "He promised to come, didn't he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world!"

Get out of our way and stop blocking our path. We don't want to hear about your holy God of Israel."

I said, "None of these prophets has ever known the LORD's secret thoughts. None of them has ever heard or understood his message, or ever listened or paid attention to what he said.

So they must no longer use the words 'the LORD's burden,' because if any of them do, I will make my message a real burden to them. The people have perverted the words of their God, the living God, the LORD Almighty.