<p class="poetry">&#8220;Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so that you may yet be delivered.p> <p class="poetry">How long will you continue to harbor upp> <p class="poetry">wicked schemes within you?p>

<p class="poetry">All of this is because<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="2" /> has said:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Cut down the trees around Jerusalemp> <p class="poetry">and build up a siege ramp against its walls.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">This is the city which is to be punished.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Nothing but oppression happens in it.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Their tongues are like deadly arrows.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They are always telling lies.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths.p> <p class="poetry">But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Why should you be like someone who is helpless,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like a champion<n id="2" /> who cannot save anyone?p> <p class="poetry">You are indeed with us,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and we belong to you.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not abandon us!&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Here is what the <sc>Lordsc> says concerning the false prophets:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">My heart and my mind are deeply disturbed.p> <p class="poetry">I tremble all over.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I am like a drunk person,p> <p class="poetry">like a person who has had too much wine,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">because of the way the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">and his holy word are being mistreated.<n id="5" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Run for safety, people of Benjamin!p> <p class="poetry">Get out of Jerusalem!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Sound the trumpet<n id="2" /> in Tekoa!p> <p class="poetry">Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!p> <p class="poetry">For disaster lurks<n id="3" /> out of the north;p> <p class="poetry">it will bring great destruction.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;For the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;Do not let the prophets or those among you who claim to be able to predict the future by divination<n id="2" /> deceive you. And do not pay any attention to the dreams that you are encouraging them to dream.

<p class="poetry">One of their own people will be their leader.p> <p class="poetry">Their ruler will come from their own number.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will invite him to approach me, and he will do so.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For no one would dare approach me on his own.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="4" />p>

&#8220;But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel<n id="1" /> after I plant them back in the land,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="3" /> &#8220;I will<n id="4" /> put my law within them<n id="5" /> and write it on their hearts and minds.<n id="6" /> I will be their God and they will be my people.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="poetry">Even her mercenaries<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">will prove to be like pampered,<n id="2" /> well-fed calves.p> <p class="poetry">For they too will turn and run away.p> <p class="poetry">They will not stand their groundp> <p class="poetry">when<n id="3" /> the time for them to be destroyed comes,p> <p class="poetry">the time for them to be punished.p>