<p class="poetry">So<n id="1" /> take warning, Jerusalem,p> <p class="poetry">or I will abandon you in disgust<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and make you desolate,p> <p class="poetry">a place where no one can live.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Correct us, <sc>Lordsc>, but only in due measure.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not punish us in anger or you will reduce us to nothing.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But you, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> get yourself ready!<n id="2" /> Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Do not lose your courage or become afraidp> <p class="poetry">because of the reports that are heard in the land.p> <p class="poetry">For a report will come in one year.p> <p class="poetry">Another report will follow it in the next.p> <p class="poetry">There will be violence in the landp> <p class="poetry">with ruler fighting against ruler.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskinp> <p class="poetry">as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,p> <p class="poetry">you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.p> <p class="poetry">If you do not,<n id="2" /> my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against youp> <p class="poetry">that no one will be able to extinguish.p> <p class="poetry">That will happen because of the evil you have done.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">O royal family descended from David.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;See to it that people each day<n id="2" /> are judged fairly.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Deliver those who have been robbed from those<n id="4" /> who oppress them.p> <p class="poetry">Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.p> <p class="poetry">It will burn like a fire that cannot be put outp> <p class="poetry">because of the evil that you have done.<n id="5" />p>

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians.<n id="1" /> The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.&#8221;<n id="2" />