who commissions Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd to carry out all my wishes and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’”

Shake off the dirt! Get up, captive Jerusalem! Take off the iron chains around your neck, O captive daughter Zion!

Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.

Your chosen cities have become a desert; Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.

Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again.

As a mother consoles a child, so I will console you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

“Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil so that you may yet be delivered. How long will you continue to harbor up wicked schemes within you?

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

Do you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem continually turn away from me in apostasy? They hold fast to their deception. They refuse to turn back to me.

“Hear the terms of the covenant I made with Israel and pass them on to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.

The Lord said to me, “The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have plotted rebellion against me!

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

“The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. Cries of distress come up to me from Jerusalem.

“The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says to all those he sent into exile to Babylon from Jerusalem,

‘So pay attention to what I, the Lord, have said, all you exiles whom I have sent to Babylon from Jerusalem.’

The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.

The following events also occurred while the Babylonian forces had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem because the army of Pharaoh was coming.

Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin. He wanted to make sure he got his share of the property that was being divided up among his family there.

I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt with war, starvation, and disease just as I punished Jerusalem.