<p class="poetry">&#8220;For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">by their God, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For the land of Babylonia is<n id="3" /> full of guiltp> <p class="poetry">against the Holy One of Israel.<n id="4" />p>

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel has a message for you, Baruch.

<t /><p class="poetry">Now listen to what the Lord has to say, you descendants<n id="1" /> of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">all you family groups from the nation<n id="2" /> of Israel.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Israel is not a slave, is he?p> <p class="poetry">He was not born into slavery, was he?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">If not, why then is he being carried off?p>

Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">We know our noisy worship of false godsp> <p class="poetry">on the hills and mountains did not help us.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">We know that the <sc>Lordsc> our Godp> <p class="poetry">is the only one who can deliver Israel.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For the nations of Israel and Judah<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">have been very unfaithful to me,&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to the people of Judah,<n id="1" /> &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says: &#8216;You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too!<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">You people of Israel,<n id="1" /> listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> has to say to you.p>

<p class="poetry">You have been the object of Israel&#8217;s hopes.p> <p class="poetry">You have saved them when they were in trouble.p> <p class="poetry">Why have you become like a resident foreigner<n id="1" /> in the land?p> <p class="poetry">Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I saw the prophets of Samaria<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">doing something that was disgusting.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They prophesied in the name of the god Baalp> <p class="poetry">and led my people Israel astray.<n id="4" />p>

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;I will break the yoke of servitude<n id="2" /> to the king of Babylon.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says to all those he sent<n id="2" /> into exile to Babylon from Jerusalem,<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">So here is what the <sc>Lordsc> has to say about Israel and Judah.<n id="1" />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">I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so that you will once again be built up.p> <p class="poetry">Once again you will take up the tambourinep> <p class="poetry">and join in the happy throng of dancers.<n id="2" />p>

I will restore Judah and Israel<n id="1" /> and will rebuild them as they were in days of old.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">The people of Moab will be disappointed by their god Chemosh.p> <p class="poetry">They will be as disappointed as the people of Israel werep> <p class="poetry">when they put their trust in the calf god at Bethel.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Babylon must fall<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because of the Israelites she has killed,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">just as the earth&#8217;s mortally wounded fellp> <p class="poetry">because of Babylon.<n id="3" />p>