“I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” says the Lord who commands armies.

Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has a plan, and who can possibly frustrate it? His hand is ready to strike, and who can possibly stop it?

Arrange the table, lay out the carpet, eat and drink! Get up, you officers, smear oil on the shields!

like heat in a dry land, you humble the boasting foreigners. Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, so he causes the song of tyrants to cease.

You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away; the wind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the Lord; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

He will not grow dim or be crushed before establishing justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait in anticipation for his decrees.”

Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; now I announce new events. Before they begin to occur, I reveal them to you.”

Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; you will never again be ashamed or humiliated.

I answered, “Oh, Lord God, I really do not know how to speak well enough for that, for I am too young.”

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

They will attack you but they will not be able to overcome you, for I will be with you to rescue you,” says the Lord.

You will not always be angry with me, will you? You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ That is what you say, but you continually do all the evil that you can.”

So take warning, Jerusalem, or I will abandon you in disgust and make you desolate, a place where no one can live.”

Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame.

Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah.

You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me:

because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity.

They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.’

I will turn my face away from them and they will desecrate my treasured place. Vandals will enter it and desecrate it.