<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will put a curse on peoplep> <p class="poetry">who trust in mere human beings,p> <p class="poetry">who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and whose hearts<n id="3" /> have turned away from the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But<n id="1" /> tell the people of Jerusalem<n id="2" /> that the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">He upheld the cause of the poor and needy.p> <p class="poetry">So things went well for Judah.&#8217;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;That is a good example of what it means to know me.&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">In a far-off land the <sc>Lordsc> will manifest himself to them.p> <p class="poetry">He will say to them, &#8216;I have loved you with an everlasting love.p> <p class="poetry">That is why I have continued to be faithful to you.<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;Indeed a time is coming,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="2" /> &#8220;when the city of Jerusalem<n id="3" /> will be rebuilt as my special city.<n id="4" /> It will be built from the Tower of Hananel westward to the Corner Gate.<n id="5" />

&#8220;I, <sc>Lordsc>, make the following promise:<n id="1" /> &#8216;I have made a covenant with the day<n id="2" /> and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people<n id="3" /> could break that covenant

But I, the <sc>Lordsc>, make the following promise:<n id="1" /> I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth.

When they had heard it all,<n id="1" /> they expressed their alarm to one another.<n id="2" /> Then they said to Baruch, &#8220;We must certainly give the king a report about everything you have read!&#8221;<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">I have heard how proud the people of Moab are,p> <p class="poetry">I know how haughty they are.p> <p class="poetry">I have heard how arrogant, proud, and haughty they are,p> <p class="poetry">what a high opinion they have of themselves.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will winnow her and strip her land bare.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">This will happen when<n id="3" /> they come against her from every direction,p> <p class="poetry">when it is time to destroy her.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">As a matter of fact,<n id="1" /> even your own brothersp> <p class="poetry">and the members of your own family have betrayed you too.p> <p class="poetry">Even they have plotted to do away with you.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So do not trust them even when they say kind things<n id="3" /> to you.p>

This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful<n id="1" /> in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors&#8217; wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority.<n id="2" /> They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">I have indeed<n id="1" /> heard the people of Israel<n id="2" /> say mournfully,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;We were like a calf untrained to the yoke.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">You disciplined us and we learned from it.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Let us come back to you and we will do so,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">for you are the <sc>Lordsc> our God.p>

Tell them the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will do just as Jeremiah has done.<n id="2" /> I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter&#8217;s vessel which is broken beyond repair.<n id="3" /> The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.&#8217;<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Then, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> make the following prophecy<n id="2" /> against them:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Like a lion about to attack,<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> will roar from the heights of heaven;p> <p class="poetry">from his holy dwelling on high he will roar loudly.p> <p class="poetry">He will roar mightily against his land.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">He will shout in triumph like those stomping juice from the grapes<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">against all those who live on the earth.p>

All the people living in Jerusalem<n id="1" /> and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah came to observe a fast before the <sc>Lordsc>. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.<n id="2" />

So Ebed Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasure room in the palace.<n id="1" /> He got some worn-out clothes and old rags<n id="2" /> from there and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

So,&#8221; the Lord <sc>Godsc><n id="1" /> says, &#8220;my raging fury will be poured out on this land.<n id="2" /> It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops.<n id="3" /> And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Yet<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="2" /> &#8220;A new time will certainly come.<n id="3" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8217;

<p class="poetry">Listen, you<n id="1" /> who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau.p> <p class="poetry">I am opposed to you,&#8217;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;You boast, &#8220;No one can swoop down on us.p> <p class="poetry">No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>