But at that time they will affirm them with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel<n id="1" /> from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished<n id="2" /> them.&#8221;<n id="3" /> At that time they will live in their own land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">But I see the prophets of Jerusalem<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">doing something just as shocking.p> <p class="poetry">They are unfaithful to mep> <p class="poetry">and continually prophesy lies.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil,p> <p class="poetry">with the result that they do not stop their evildoing.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom,p> <p class="poetry">and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">So then I, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of sufferingp> <p class="poetry">and drink the poison water of judgment.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">that ungodliness<n id="5" /> has spread throughout the land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I<n id="1" /> am the <sc>Lordsc>. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly<n id="2" /> return to me.&#8217;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah<n id="1" /> concerning all the people of Judah. (That was the same as the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.)<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">So<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision.<n id="2" /> &#8220;Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath.<n id="3" /> Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it.

For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own.<n id="1" /> So how can you possibly avoid being punished?<n id="2" /> You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="3" /> affirm it!&#8217;<n id="4" />p>

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>

Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;This man should be condemned to die<n id="2" /> because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so<n id="3" /> with your own ears.&#8221;p>

But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the <sc>Lordsc> has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;This man should not be condemned to die.<n id="2" /> For he has spoken to us under the authority of the <sc>Lordsc> our God.&#8221;<n id="3" />

&#8220;Micah from Moresheth<n id="1" /> prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah.<n id="2" /> He told all the people of Judah,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="3" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Zion<n id="4" /> will become a plowed field.p> <p class="poetry">Jerusalem<n id="5" /> will become a pile of rubble.p> <p class="poetry">The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.&#8221;&#8217;<n id="6" />p>

<p class="bodytext">King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah did not put him to death, did they? Did not Hezekiah show reverence for the <sc>Lordsc> and seek the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s favor?<n id="1" /> Did not<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> forgo destroying them<n id="3" /> as he threatened he would? But we are on the verge of bringing great disaster on ourselves.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Now there was another man<n id="1" /> who prophesied as the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s representative<n id="2" /> against this city and this land just as Jeremiah did. His name was Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim.<n id="3" />

I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power<n id="1" /> of my servant,<n id="2" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him.<n id="3" />

All nations must serve him and his son and grandson<n id="1" /> until the time comes for his own nation to fall.<n id="2" /> Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Submit<n id="2" /> to the yoke of servitude to<n id="3" /> the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live.

He has already spoken about these things that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiakim&#8217;s son King Jeconiah of Judah and the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem away as captives.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The following events occurred in that same year, early in the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah. To be more precise, it was the fifth month of the fourth year of his reign.<n id="1" /> The prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, spoke to Jeremiah<n id="2" /> in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple in the presence of the priests and all the people.<n id="3" />

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.