So her young men will fall in her city squares. All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,” says the Lord.

Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one. Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will live a long time in the land that you wander about on.’

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.

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

Jehoiachin took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.

Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Israel will live in security. This is the name he will go by: ‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’

Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! There has never been any like it. It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob, but some of them will be rescued out of it.

Yes, a time is coming when watchmen will call out on the mountains of Ephraim, “Come! Let us go to Zion to worship the Lord our God!”’”

“I, the Lord, affirm: ‘The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah.

Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Jerusalem will live in security. At that time Jerusalem will be called “The Lord has provided us with justice.”

I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. They will winnow her and strip her land bare. This will happen when they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her.

I will scatter them before their enemies like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind. I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them when disaster strikes them.”

“Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah.

“When that time comes, people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children’s teeth have grown numb.’

“Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.

“Indeed a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when the city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt as my special city. It will be built from the Tower of Hananel westward to the Corner Gate.

But I will rescue you when it happens. I, the Lord, affirm it! You will not be handed over to those whom you fear.

Her towns will be captured. Her fortresses will be taken. At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightened like a woman in labor.

For her young men will fall in her city squares. All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,” says the Lord who rules over all.

The Lord began to speak to him in the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon ruled over Judah.