<p class="poetry">Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!p> <p class="poetry">You<n id="1" /> will see Jerusalem,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">a peaceful settlement,p> <p class="poetry">a tent that stays put;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">its stakes will never be pulled up;p> <p class="poetry">none of its ropes will snap in two.p>

&#8220;Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: &#8216;Don&#8217;t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, &#8220;Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Speak kindly to<n id="1" /> Jerusalem,<n id="2" /> and tell herp> <p class="poetry">that her time of warfare is over,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">that her punishment is completed.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> has made her pay double<n id="5" /> for all her sins.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion!p> <p class="poetry">Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Shout, don&#8217;t be afraid!p> <p class="poetry">Say to the towns of Judah,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Here is your God!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Wake up! Wake up!p> <p class="poetry">Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!p> <p class="poetry">Put on your beautiful clothes,p> <p class="poetry">O Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> holy city!p> <p class="poetry">For uncircumcised and unclean pagansp> <p class="poetry">will no longer invade you.p>

They will bring back all your countrymen<n id="1" /> from all the nations as an offering to the <sc>Lordsc>. They will bring them<n id="2" /> on horses, in chariots, in wagons, on mules, and on camels<n id="3" /> to my holy hill Jerusalem,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;just as the Israelites bring offerings to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple in ritually pure containers.

The <sc>Lordsc> also spoke to him when Jehoiakim son of Josiah ruled over Judah, and he continued to speak to him until the fifth month of the eleventh year<n id="1" /> that Zedekiah son of Josiah ruled over Judah. That was when the people of Jerusalem<n id="2" /> were taken into exile.<n id="3" />p>

For I will soon summon all the peoples of the kingdoms of the north,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;They will come and their kings will set up their thrones<n id="1" /> near the entrances of the gates of Jerusalem.<n id="2" /> They will attack all the walls surrounding it, and all the towns in Judah.<n id="3" />

&#8220;Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;I have fond memories of you,<n id="2" /> how devoted you were to me in your early years.<n id="3" /> I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

<p class="poetry">Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskinp> <p class="poetry">as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,p> <p class="poetry">you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.p> <p class="poetry">If you do not,<n id="2" /> my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against youp> <p class="poetry">that no one will be able to extinguish.p> <p class="poetry">That will happen because of the evil you have done.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Go up and down<n id="2" /> through the streets of Jerusalem.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Look around and see for yourselves.p> <p class="poetry">Search through its public squares.p> <p class="poetry">See if any of you can find a single personp> <p class="poetry">who deals honestly and tries to be truthful.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">If you can,<n id="5" /> then I will not punish this city.<n id="6" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Run for safety, people of Benjamin!p> <p class="poetry">Get out of Jerusalem!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Sound the trumpet<n id="2" /> in Tekoa!p> <p class="poetry">Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!p> <p class="poetry">For disaster lurks<n id="3" /> out of the north;p> <p class="poetry">it will bring great destruction.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;When that time comes,<n id="1" /> the bones of the kings of Judah and its leaders, the bones of the priests and prophets and of all the other people who lived in Jerusalem will be dug up from their graves.

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: &#8216;Listen to the terms of my covenant with you<n id="1" /> and carry them out!

Then<n id="1" /> tell them, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor.<n id="2" /> I will also fill the kings from David&#8217;s dynasty,<n id="3" /> the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor.<n id="4" />

The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem<n id="1" /> and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters.<n id="2" /> For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told me, &#8220;Go and stand in the People&#8217;s Gate<n id="2" /> through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem.<n id="3" />

If you do this,<n id="1" /> then the kings and princes who follow in David&#8217;s succession<n id="2" /> and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to enter through these gates, as well as their officials and the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.<n id="3" /> This city will always be filled with people.<n id="4" />

Then people will come here from the towns in Judah, from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the western foothills, from the southern hill country, and from the southern part of Judah. They will come bringing offerings to the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>: burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense along with their thank offerings.<n id="1" />

So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem<n id="1" /> this: The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you.<n id="2" /> So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing.<n id="3" /> Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.&#8217;<n id="4" />