For I solemnly swear,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;that Bozrah<n id="2" /> will become a pile of ruins. It will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example to be used in curses.<n id="3" /> All the towns around it will lie in ruins forever.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.p> <p class="poetry">She has become a dry and barren desert.p> <p class="poetry">No one lives in those towns any more.p> <p class="poetry">No one even passes through them.<n id="1" />p>

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it<n id="2" /> all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused<n id="3" /> to pay any attention to what I have said!&#8217;&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem<n id="1" /> and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion.<n id="2" />