<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> spoke about these people.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;They truly<n id="2" /> love to go astray.p> <p class="poetry">They cannot keep from running away from me.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">So I am not pleased with them.p> <p class="poetry">I will now call to mind<n id="4" /> the wrongs they have done<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">and punish them for their sins.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Moreover I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell you:<n id="1" /> &#8216;Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor,<n id="2" /> my love, and my compassion. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, so affirm it!<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;When you tell these people about all this,<n id="1" /> they will undoubtedly ask you, &#8216;Why has the <sc>Lordsc> threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the <sc>Lordsc> our God?&#8217;

Say, &#8216;Listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem!<n id="1" /> The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says, &#8220;I will bring a disaster on this place<n id="3" /> that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring!<n id="4" />

&#8220;Please ask the <sc>Lordsc> to come and help us,<n id="1" /> because King Nebuchadnezzar<n id="2" /> of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the <sc>Lordsc> will perform one of his miracles as in times past and make him stop attacking us and leave.&#8221;<n id="3" />

So the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: &#8220;You have caused my people<n id="1" /> to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done.<n id="2" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> says to the people of Jerusalem:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do not listen to whatp> <p class="poetry">those prophets are saying to you.p> <p class="poetry">They are filling you with false hopes.p> <p class="poetry">They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,p> <p class="poetry">not something the <sc>Lordsc> has given them to say.<n id="3" />p>

I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies.<n id="2" /> I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all.<n id="3" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, &#8216;What burdensome message<n id="2" /> do you have from the <sc>Lordsc>?&#8217; Tell them, &#8216;You are the burden,<n id="3" /> and I will cast you away.<n id="4" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="5" />

How dare you claim the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s authority to prophesy such things! How dare you claim his authority to prophesy that this temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will become an uninhabited ruin!&#8221;<n id="1" /> Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah.p>

I will make myself available to you,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> &#8216;Then I will reverse your plight<n id="3" /> and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" /> &#8216;I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.&#8217;p>

For they have not paid attention to what I said to them through my servants the prophets whom I sent to them over and over again,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> &#8216;And you exiles<n id="3" /> have not paid any attention to them either,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" />

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> has made you priest in place of Jehoiada.<n id="1" /> He has put you in charge in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple of controlling<n id="2" /> any lunatic<n id="3" /> who pretends to be a prophet.<n id="4" /> And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks<n id="5" /> with an iron collar around his neck.<n id="6" />

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that the time will come when I will reverse the plight<n id="2" /> of my people, Israel and Judah,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8216;I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors<n id="3" /> and they will take possession of it once again.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Moreover,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Sing for joy for the descendants of Jacob.p> <p class="poetry">Utter glad shouts for that foremost of the nations.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Make your praises heard.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then say, &#8216;<sc>Lordsc>, rescue your people.p> <p class="poetry">Deliver those of Israel who remain alive.&#8217;<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will restore the people of Judah to their land and to their towns.p> <p class="poetry">When I do, they will again say<n id="2" /> of Jerusalem,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;May the <sc>Lordsc> bless you, you holy mountain,p> <p class="poetry">the place where righteousness dwells.&#8217;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me.<n id="1" /> For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;For<n id="3" /> I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has made a promise to Israel.p> <p class="poetry">He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by dayp> <p class="poetry">and the moon and stars to give light by night.p> <p class="poetry">He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll.p> <p class="poetry">He promises it as the one who is known as the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I will not reject all the descendants of Israelp> <p class="poetry">because of all that they have done.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">That could only happen if the heavens above could be measuredp> <p class="poetry">or the foundations of the earth below could all be explored,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="3" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel told Jeremiah<n id="1" /> to go and give King Zedekiah of Judah a message. He told Jeremiah<n id="2" /> to tell him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I am going to<n id="3" /> hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down.