<p class="bodytext">Then the prophet Jeremiah responded to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

And all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use them as examples when they put a curse on anyone. They will say, &#8220;May the <sc>Lordsc> treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom the king of Babylon roasted to death in the fire!&#8221;<n id="1" />

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">All your allies have abandoned you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They no longer have any concern for you.p> <p class="poetry">For I have attacked you like an enemy would.p> <p class="poetry">I have chastened you cruelly.p> <p class="poetry">For your wickedness is so greatp> <p class="poetry">and your sin is so much.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">At that time I will be the God of all the clans of Israel<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and they will be my people.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> affirms,<n id="1" /> &#8220;The descendants of Israel will notp> <p class="poetry">cease forever to be a nation in my sight.p> <p class="poetry">That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lightsp> <p class="poetry">were to cease to operate before me.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

You plan great things and you do mighty deeds.<n id="1" /> You see everything people do.<n id="2" /> You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do.<n id="3" />

&#8216;I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled<n id="1" /> them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for<n id="1" /> their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

Nor will the Levitical priests ever lack someone to stand before me and continually offer up burnt offerings, sacrifice cereal offerings, and offer the other sacrifices.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

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 the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8216;Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a male descendant to serve me.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So Baruch son of Neriah did exactly what the prophet Jeremiah had told him to do. He read what the <sc>Lordsc> had said from the scroll in the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" />

Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.<n id="1" />

Then they asked Baruch, &#8220;How did you come to write all these words? Do they actually come from Jeremiah&#8217;s mouth?&#8221;<n id="1" />

Baruch answered, &#8220;Yes, they came from his own mouth. He dictated all these words to me and I wrote them down in ink on this scroll.&#8221;<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the royal secretary, for safekeeping.<n id="1" /> Then they went to the court and reported everything<n id="2" /> to the king.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it. The siege began in the tenth month of the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah.<n id="1" />

There at Riblah the king of Babylon had Zedekiah&#8217;s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon also had all the nobles of Judah put to death.

So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, Nebushazban, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official,<n id="1" /> and all the other officers of the king of Babylon