<p class="poetry">&#8220;I will lead them off to be slaughteredp> <p class="poetry">like lambs, rams, and male goats.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Poor dear Egypt<n id="1" /> will be put to shame.p> <p class="poetry">She will be handed over to the people from the north.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The people of Israel who survivedp> <p class="poetry">death at the hands of the enemy<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">will find favor in the wildernessp> <p class="poetry">as they journey to find rest for themselves.p>

<p class="poetry">Moab, you are doomed!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You people who worship Chemosh will be destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">Your sons will be taken away captive.p> <p class="poetry">Your daughters will be carried away into exile.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Look! An army is about to come from the north.p> <p class="poetry">A mighty nation and many kings<n id="1" /> are stirring into actionp> <p class="poetry">in faraway parts of the earth.p>

<p class="poetry">I am as full of anger as you are, <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I am tired of trying to hold it in.&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> answered,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Vent it, then,<n id="3" /> on the children who play in the streetp> <p class="poetry">and on the young men who are gathered together.p> <p class="poetry">Husbands and wives are to be included,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.p>

<p class="poetry">Tell them: &#8216;Hear this,p> <p class="poetry">you foolish people who have no understanding,p> <p class="poetry">who have eyes but do not discern,p> <p class="poetry">who have ears but do not perceive:<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Beware! An army<n id="1" /> is coming from a land in the north.p> <p class="poetry">A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.p>

So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem.<n id="1" />

I will punish the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials,<n id="1" /> the priests, and all the other people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf.<n id="2" />

So they took all their troops and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the large pool<n id="1" /> at Gibeon.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told me, &#8220;Go and stand in the People&#8217;s Gate<n id="2" /> through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah<n id="1" /> concerning all the people of Judah. (That was the same as the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.)<n id="2" />

&#8220;Micah from Moresheth<n id="1" /> prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah.<n id="2" /> He told all the people of Judah,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="3" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Zion<n id="4" /> will become a plowed field.p> <p class="poetry">Jerusalem<n id="5" /> will become a pile of rubble.p> <p class="poetry">The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.&#8221;&#8217;<n id="6" />p>

King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians.<n id="1" /> He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face.<n id="2" />

From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king&#8217;s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens<n id="1" /> for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city.