Then the Lord said, “You have observed correctly. This means I am watching to make sure my threats are carried out.”

Later the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

I will indeed see to it that disaster, not prosperity, happens to them. All the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will die in war or from starvation until not one of them is left.

So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things.