Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.

Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison?

Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I answer you, you will certainly kill me. If I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

Then Jeremiah answered, “You will not be handed over to them. Please obey the Lord by doing what I have been telling you. Then all will go well with you and your life will be spared.

The captain of the royal guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster.

Then Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to the Lord God of Israel to make your request known to him. Here is what he says to you:

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

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people, particularly to all the women. “Listen to what the Lord has to say all you people of Judah who are in Egypt.

Egypt rises like the Nile, like its streams turbulent at flood stage. Egypt says, ‘I will arise and cover the earth. I will destroy cities and the people who inhabit them.’

He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully.

The hand of the Lord rested on me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the valley, and I will speak with you there.”

Then a wind came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord spoke to me and said, “Go shut yourself in your house.

And the Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I will banish them.”

So he said to me, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”

Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

He said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!” So they went out and struck people down throughout the city.

The Lord said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said to me, “Say: This is what the Lord says: ‘This is what you are thinking, O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds.

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds!