Jeremiah 5:14
Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Jeremiah 5:14 belongs to the warning and reproof given to Jerusalem before its overthrow, calling the people to turn to the Lord and especially to regard His law and keep His Sabbath, with the promise that Jerusalem would stand forever if they obeyed. Because the people refused the prophetic words and persisted in pride, denying that judgment would come, God made His words in the prophet's mouth like a consuming fire and made the people like wood to be devoured by it. The announced judgment named Nebuchadnezzar to come against them, destroy their city, and take them into captivity to serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
The verse shows that God makes His word powerful in the mouth of the one who speaks it. God's people are to let that word fill their minds, guide them in right conduct, and shape their continual lives, and those so guided will speak with power.
What was spoken to ancient Israel applies to the present as well, for God's words expose wrongdoing and bring judgment upon those who refuse them, so that failure to heed His instruction and warning brings His judgment. Those who fear God must respond with belief, acknowledgment, repentance, and turning to Him even when He visits them with judgments.