Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved.<n id="1" />

But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent<n id="1" /> and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands<n id="2" /> and to their own country.

<t /><p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Oh, mother, how I regret<n id="2" /> that you ever gave birth to me!p> <p class="poetry">I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone.p> <p class="poetry">Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So I, Jeremiah, tell you,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, &#8216;How did the <sc>Lordsc> answer? Or what did the <sc>Lordsc> say?&#8217;<n id="2" />

However, King Jehoiakim sent some men to Egypt, including Elnathan son of Achbor,<n id="1" />

eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria.<n id="1" /> They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves to show they were mourning.<n id="2" /> They were carrying grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the <sc>Lordsc> in Jerusalem.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon.p> <p class="poetry">Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Let all the foreigners return to their own people.p> <p class="poetry">Let them hurry back to their own landsp> <p class="poetry">to escape destruction by that enemy army.<n id="2" />p>

So these officials said to the king, &#8220;This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing<n id="1" /> the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying.<n id="2" /> This<n id="3" /> man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.&#8221;<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">They are like lusty, well-fed<n id="1" /> stallions.p> <p class="poetry">Each of them lusts after<n id="2" /> his neighbor&#8217;s wife.p>

<p class="poetry">Kings will come against it with their armies.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will encamp in siege all around it.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry"><sc>Lordsc>, we know that people do not control their own destiny.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.<n id="2" />p>

&#8220;Hear<n id="1" /> the terms of the covenant<n id="2" /> I made with Israel<n id="3" /> and pass them on<n id="4" /> to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have plotted rebellion against me!<n id="1" />

Not one of them will survive.<n id="1" /> I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you.<n id="2" /> A day of reckoning is coming for them.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, probe into people&#8217;s minds.p> <p class="poetry">I examine people&#8217;s hearts.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.p> <p class="poetry">I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.p>

But they just keep saying, &#8216;We do not care what you say!<n id="1" /> We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will send men against it to destroy it<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">with their axes and hatchets.p> <p class="poetry">They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columnsp> <p class="poetry">and throw them into the fire.p>

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me.<n id="2" />

Rather, each person will die for his own sins. The teeth of the person who eats the sour grapes will themselves grow numb.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Zedekiah told Jeremiah, &#8220;Do not let anyone know about the conversation we have had.<n id="1" /> If you do, you will die.<n id="2" />