Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do.<n id="1" /> If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them<n id="2" /> as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing.<n id="3" />

You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again.<n id="1" /> But you have not paid any attention to them.

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel has a message for you.<n id="1" /> &#8216;I made a covenant with your ancestors<n id="2" /> when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves.<n id="3" /> It stipulated,<n id="4" />

Then say, &#8216;In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments<n id="1" /> I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.&#8217;&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">The prophecies of Jeremiah end here.<n id="2" />p>

Then the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> said: &#8220;Name him &#8216;Not My People&#8217; (Lo-Ammi), because you<n id="2" /> are not my people and I am not your<n id="3" /> God.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Plead earnestly<n id="1" /> with your<n id="2" /> motherp> <p class="poetry">(for<n id="3" /> she is not my wife, and I am not her husband),p> <p class="poetry">so that<n id="4" /> she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior.<n id="6" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Yet<n id="1" /> until now<n id="2" /> she has refused to acknowledge<n id="3" /> that I<n id="4" /> was the onep> <p class="poetry">who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;p> <p class="poetry">and that it was I who<n id="5" /> lavished on her the silver and gold &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">which they<n id="6" /> used in worshiping Baal!<n id="7" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">I will be like a lion to Ephraim,p> <p class="poetry">like a young lion to the house of Judah.p> <p class="poetry">I myself will tear them to pieces,p> <p class="poetry">then I will carry them off, and no one will be able to rescue them!p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Woe to them! For they have fled from me!p> <p class="poetry">Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me!p> <p class="poetry">I want to deliver<n id="1" /> them,p> <p class="poetry">but they have lied to me.p>

<p class="poetry">I cannot carry out<n id="1" /> my fierce anger!p> <p class="poetry">I cannot totally destroy Ephraim!p> <p class="poetry">Because I am God, and not man &#8211; the Holy One among you &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will not come in wrath!p>

<p class="poetry">For Israel&#8217;s sake I destroyed the Amorites.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They were as tall as cedars<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and as strong as oaks,p> <p class="poetry">but I destroyed the fruit on their branches<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and their roots in the ground.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I brought you up from the land of Egypt;p> <p class="poetry">I led you through the wilderness for forty yearsp> <p class="poetry">so you could take the Amorites&#8217; land as your own.p>

<p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> confirms this oath by his very own life.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>, the God who commands armies, is speaking:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I despise Jacob&#8217;s arrogance;p> <p class="poetry">I hate their<n id="2" /> fortresses.p> <p class="poetry">I will hand over to their enemies<n id="3" /> the city of Samaria<n id="4" /> and everything in it.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;For look, I am giving a commandp> <p class="poetry">and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.p> <p class="poetry">It will resemble a sieve being shaken,p> <p class="poetry">when not even a pebble falls to the ground.<n id="1" />p>

He said to them, &#8220;I am a Hebrew! And I worship<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="2" /> the God of heaven,<n id="3" /> who made the sea and the dry land.&#8221;

&#8220;Go immediately<n id="1" /> to Nineveh, that large city,<n id="2" /> and proclaim to<n id="3" /> it the message that I tell you.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">But I<n id="1" /> am full of the courage that the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s Spirit gives,p> <p class="poetry">and have a strong commitment to justice.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion,p> <p class="poetry">and Israel with its sin.<n id="3" />p>

&#8220;I am about to make Jerusalem<n id="1" /> a cup that brings dizziness<n id="2" /> to all the surrounding nations; indeed, Judah will also be included when Jerusalem is besieged.

Look, I will send you Elijah<n id="1" /> the prophet before the great and terrible day of the <sc>Lordsc> arrives.

For in seven days<n id="1" /> I will cause it to rain<n id="2" /> on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.&#8221;p>