Jeremiah 11:7
For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
From the day He brought Israel up out of Egypt — out of the iron furnace of bondage — even unto Jeremiah's day, God earnestly appealed to the fathers to obey His voice. That appeal was made with urgency and persistence, rising early to protest and to urge obedience. It was continual, diligent warning, pressed upon them day after day and generation after generation. Such persistent pleading left no soul with an excuse to turn away from truth and righteousness.
Obedience to His voice was the terms of the covenant commanded at the Exodus. If they obeyed His voice and did all He commanded, they would be His people and He would be their God. Then He could perform His sworn oath to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. Disobedience, by contrast, brought a curse.
Yet the people did not obey nor incline the ear. Each one walked in the imagination of an evil heart, following his own impulses. In so doing they failed to fulfill their promise to obey. Because they failed to keep that promise, they did not receive the blessings God desired to bestow upon them. By following their own impulses they disqualified themselves from being recognized as His treasured possession.