So the Lord who rules over all ¹  said, “I will surely ²  punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle. ³  Their sons and daughters will die of starvation.

“I will abandon my nation. ¹  I will forsake the people I call my own. ²  I will turn my beloved people ³  over to the power ⁴  of their enemies.

I will make you serve your enemies ¹  in a land that you know nothing about. For my anger is like a fire that will burn against you.”

But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon? Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow? ¹ 

“‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?”

Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. ¹ 

Tell them that the Lord says, ¹  ‘You must obey me! You must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws. ² 

Charge them to give their masters a message from me. Tell them, ‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says to give your masters this message. ² 

Before two years are over, I will bring back to this place everything that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from it and carried away to Babylon.

Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it! ²  Even if you ³  continue to fight against the Babylonians, ⁴  you cannot win.’”

Therefore I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘I will indeed hand ²  this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army. ³  They will capture it.

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 ¹  their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

“For I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘I will surely bring on these people all the good fortune that I am hereby promising them. I will be just as sure to do that as I have been in bringing all this great disaster on them. ² 

But I will most surely ¹  heal the wounds of this city and restore it and its people to health. ²  I will show them abundant ³  peace and security.

But he ¹  left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing. He gave them fields and vineyards at that time.

So Johanan son of Kareah, all the army officers, and all the rest of the people did not obey the Lord’s command to stay in the land.

“Because of this, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘I am determined to bring disaster on you, ¹  even to the point of destroying all the Judeans here. ² 

I said, ¹  “I have heard a message from the Lord. A messenger has been sent among the nations to say, ‘Gather your armies and march out against her! Prepare to do battle with her!’” ² 

You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ¹