<p class="poetry">&#8220;Therefore this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and your sons and daughters will die violently.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Your land will be given to others<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and you will die in a foreign<n id="4" /> land.p> <p class="poetry">Israel will certainly be carried into exile<n id="5" /> away from its land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore the <sc>Lordsc> says this: &#8220;Look, I am devising disaster for this nation!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You will no longer<n id="3" /> walk proudly,p> <p class="poetry">for it will be a time of catastrophe.p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore, as surely as I live,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, the God of Israel,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;be certain that Moab will become like Sodomp> <p class="poetry">and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.p> <p class="poetry">They will be overrun by weeds,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">filled with salt pits,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and permanently desolate.p> <p class="poetry">Those of my people who are left<n id="3" /> will plunder their belongings;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">those who are left in Judah<n id="5" /> will take possession of their land.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore you must wait patiently<n id="1" /> for me,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;for the day when I attack and take plunder.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I have decided<n id="3" /> to gather nations togetherp> <p class="poetry">and assemble kingdoms,p> <p class="poetry">so I can pour out my fury on them &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">all my raging anger.p> <p class="poetry">For<n id="4" /> the whole earth will be consumedp> <p class="poetry">by my fiery anger.p>

<p class="bodytext">So I<n id="1" /> began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted<n id="2" /> of all the flock. Then I took two staffs,<n id="3" /> calling one &#8220;Pleasantness&#8221;<n id="4" /> and the other &#8220;Binders,&#8221;<n id="5" /> and I tended the flock.

<p class="bodytext">Elijah<n id="1" /> said to the king,<n id="2" /> &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. You must think there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek an oracle!<n id="3" /> Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

Because he has done this,&#8221;<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. There will not be any of them left to experience the good things that I will do for my people. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it! For he counseled rebellion against the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say: &#8220;You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman.<n id="1" /> Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom<n id="2" /> to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" /> I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you.<n id="4" />

So I, the <sc>Lord,sc> the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, say:<n id="1" /> &#8220;I will soon bring on Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem all the disaster that I threatened to bring on them. I will do this because I spoke to them but they did not listen. I called out to them but they did not answer.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>

But<n id="1" /> listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> has to say, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, &#8220;As surely as the Lord <sc>Godsc> lives&#8230;.&#8221;<n id="2" />

Therefore speak to them and say to them, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the <sc>Lordsc> am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry.<n id="1" />

They replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;A man came up to meet us. He told us, &#8220;Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron.<n id="2" /> Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;