<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Tell them that the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says,<n id="3" /> &#8216;Drink this cup<n id="4" /> until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can&#8217;t get up.<n id="5" /> For I will send wars sweeping through you.&#8217;<n id="6" />

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>

The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;Go stand in the courtyard of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="1" /> Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word!

Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the <sc>Lordsc> had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some<n id="1" /> of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, &#8220;You deserve to die!<n id="2" />

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>

<p class="bodytext">Then Jeremiah made his defense before all the officials and all the people.<n id="1" /> &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> sent me to prophesy everything you have heard me say against this temple and against this city.

<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>

So do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim to predict the future by divination,<n id="1" /> by dreams, by consulting the dead,<n id="2" /> or by practicing magic. They keep telling you, &#8216;You do not need to be<n id="3" /> subject to the king of Babylon.&#8217;

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.

The prophet Jeremiah said, &#8220;Amen! May the <sc>Lordsc> do all this! May the <sc>Lordsc> make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and the people who were carried into exile.

For I know what I have planned for you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" /> &#8216;I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you<n id="2" /> a future filled with hope.<n id="3" />

But just listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> has to say about<n id="1" /> the king who occupies David&#8217;s throne and all your fellow countrymen who are still living in this city of Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and were not carried off into exile with you.

The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;I will bring war,<n id="2" /> starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten<n id="3" /> they cannot be eaten.

I will chase after them with war,<n id="1" /> starvation, and disease. I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to them. I will make them examples of those who are cursed, objects of horror, hissing scorn, and ridicule among all the nations where I exile them.

&#8220;Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. &#8220;Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie.<n id="1" />

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that the time will come when I will reverse the plight<n id="2" /> of my people, Israel and Judah,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8216;I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors<n id="3" /> and they will take possession of it once again.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> thatp> <p class="poetry">I will be with you and will rescue you.p> <p class="poetry">I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you.p> <p class="poetry">But I will not completely destroy you.p> <p class="poetry">I will indeed discipline you, but only in due measure.p> <p class="poetry">I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

&#8220;But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel<n id="1" /> after I plant them back in the land,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="3" /> &#8220;I will<n id="4" /> put my law within them<n id="5" /> and write it on their hearts and minds.<n id="6" /> I will be their God and they will be my people.<n id="7" />p>