An unheeding household

16But as for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, and do not intercede with me, for I am not listening to you.

17Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, so as to provoke me to anger.

19Is it I whom they are provoking? declares Yahweh. Is it not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?

20Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath are being poured out on this place, on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; it will burn and will not be quenched.