I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakim&#8217;s son King Jeconiah of Judah and all the exiles who were taken to Babylon.&#8217; Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc> affirms,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will break the yoke of servitude to the king of Babylon.&#8217;&#8221;p>

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 the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8220;I have put an irresistible yoke of servitude on all these nations<n id="2" /> so they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And they will indeed serve him. I have even given him control over the wild animals.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from Jerusalem<n id="1" /> to Babylon. It was addressed to the elders who were left among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the other people who were exiled in Babylon.<n id="2" />

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.

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> has made you priest in place of Jehoiada.<n id="1" /> He has put you in charge in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple of controlling<n id="2" /> any lunatic<n id="3" /> who pretends to be a prophet.<n id="4" /> And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks<n id="5" /> with an iron collar around his neck.<n id="6" />

&#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" />

<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>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me.<n id="1" /> For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;For<n id="3" /> I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.&#8221;p>

I took both copies of the deed of purchase<n id="1" /> and gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. I gave them to him in the presence<n id="2" /> of my cousin<n id="3" /> Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and all the Judeans who were housed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

&#8216;Oh, Lord <sc>Godsc>,<n id="1" /> you did indeed<n id="2" /> make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength.<n id="3" /> Nothing is too hard for you!

I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness &#8211; they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem<n id="1" /> have done this wickedness.<n id="2" />

&#8216;The defenders of the city will go out and fight with the Babylonians.<n id="1" /> But they will only fill those houses and buildings with the dead bodies of the people that I will kill in my anger and my wrath.<n id="2" /> That will happen because I have decided to turn my back on<n id="3" /> this city on account of the wicked things they have done.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep.

He did this while the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. He was attacking these cities because they were the only fortified cities of Judah which were still holding out.<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant<n id="1" /> with all the people in Jerusalem<n id="2" /> to grant their slaves their freedom.

Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one.<n id="1" /> Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will<n id="2" /> live a long time in the land that you wander about on.&#8217;<n id="3" />

Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the disaster I intend to bring on them, they will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing.<n id="1" /> If they do, I will forgive their sins and the wicked things they have done.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Then Jeremiah dictated to Baruch everything the <sc>Lordsc> had told him to say and Baruch wrote it all down in a scroll.<n id="1" />

So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast<n id="1" /> in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the <sc>Lordsc> said, which you wrote in the scroll.<n id="2" />