So I, the Lord, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me.

They set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own and defiled it.

We have lived in tents. We have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab and done exactly as he commanded us.

Baruch answered, “Yes, they came from his own mouth. He dictated all these words to me and I wrote them down in ink on this scroll.”

Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide. You must not let anyone know where you are.”

So Jeremiah was put in prison in a cell in the dungeon in Jonathan’s house. He was kept there for a long time.

“Find Jeremiah and look out for him. Do not do anything to harm him, but do with him whatever he tells you.”

Then Jeremiah replied to all the people, both men and women, who responded to him in this way.

But even the swiftest cannot get away. Even the strongest cannot escape. There in the north by the Euphrates River they stumble and fall in defeat.

For the Lord says, “Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings a nation will swoop down on Moab.

ג (Gimel) He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.

“My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

We must pay money for our own water; we must buy our own wood at a steep price.

We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria in order to buy food to eat.

The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

Each moved straight ahead – wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.

Then there was a voice from above the platform over their heads when they stood still.

“Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out! The staff has budded, pride has blossomed!

“They have blown the trumpet and everyone is ready, but no one goes to battle, because my anger is against their whole crowd.

But as for me, my eye will not pity them nor will I spare them; I hereby repay them for what they have done.”