Jeremiah 11:8, commentary and pictures

Israel refused to obey God's voice and refused to incline the ear, but walked every one in the imagination of his evil heart, which means following the desires of that evil heart and following his own impulses. The words of the covenant had been commanded to the fathers whom God brought up out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, under their covenant promise to do all that the Lord had spoken. From the day He brought them up out of Egypt even to that day, God earnestly protested to the fathers, rising early and protesting, through proclamation in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, to hear the words of the covenant and do them and to obey His voice.

By this refusal to listen and obey they broke their covenant with God and broke their covenant promise. Because they did not do what He had commanded them to do, God would bring upon them all the words of this covenant, bringing them under the curse for not obeying.

Because they did not keep the commands of the covenant and did not fulfill their promise, they did not receive the blessings God wished to bestow on them, but lost the blessings He wanted to give them. By that failure they lost their standing and forfeited it, disqualifying themselves from being recognized as God's peculiar treasure. Since God warned so fully and persistently, there is no excuse for any soul to walk away from truth and righteousness.