For the third time (see Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14), God told Jeremiah not to pray for the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Fasting would be pointless because the Lord had decided to ignore them. The priests' burnt and grain offerings, which the Lord had given Moses as a way to worship him (see Leviticus 1–2), would be wasted because the Lord would not accept them. Instead, the Lord would respond with war, famine, and disease.