You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. He is the one you must respect; he is the one you must fear.

Then the Lord provoked their adversaries to attack them, he stirred up their enemies –

You saw the many breaks in the walls of the city of David; you stored up water in the lower pool.

Who is the Lord trying to teach? To whom is he explaining a message? Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother’s breast!

It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations and their lands.

“My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!

But I am not really the one being troubled!” says the Lord. “Rather they are bringing trouble on themselves to their own shame!

But your ancestors did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

“I, the Lord, say: ‘This shows how I will ruin the highly exalted position in which Judah and Jerusalem take pride.

This is your fate, the destiny to which I have appointed you, because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For he rescues the oppressed from the clutches of evildoers.

The Lord says, “I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something that was disgusting. They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray.

all the kings of Arabia who live in the desert;

But they will be subject to the Lord their God and to the Davidic ruler whom I will raise up as king over them.

I will restore Judah and Israel and will rebuild them as they were in days of old.

So they pulled Jeremiah up from the cistern with ropes. Jeremiah, however, still remained confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse.

Then he had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains to be led off to Babylon.

I will have compassion on you so that he in turn will have mercy on you and allow you to return to your land.’

The exiles from Judah will say, ‘The Lord has brought about a great deliverance for us! Come on, let’s go and proclaim in Zion what the Lord our God has done!’

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.