They answered Jeremiah, &#8220;May the <sc>Lordsc> be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do just as<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> sends you to tell us to do.

All the people who are determined to go and settle in Egypt will die from war, starvation, or disease. No one will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.&#8217;

You are making a fatal mistake.<n id="1" /> For you sent me to the <sc>Lordsc> your God and asked me, &#8216;Pray to the <sc>Lordsc> our God for us. Tell us what the <sc>Lordsc> our God says and we will do it.&#8217;<n id="2" />

Then Azariah<n id="1" /> son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and other arrogant men said to Jeremiah, &#8220;You are telling a lie! The <sc>Lordsc> our God did not send you to tell us, &#8216;You must not go to Egypt and settle there.&#8217;

They also led off all the men, women, children, and royal princesses<n id="1" /> that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, had left with Gedaliah,<n id="2" /> the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. This included the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah.

That is what will result from your making me angry by what you are doing.<n id="1" /> You are making me angry by sacrificing to other gods here in the land of Egypt where you live. You will be destroyed for doing that! You will become an example used in curses<n id="2" /> and an object of ridicule among all the nations of the earth.<n id="3" />

Some who survive in battle will return to the land of Judah from the land of Egypt. But they will be very few indeed!<n id="1" /> Then the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will know whose word proves true,<n id="2" /> mine or theirs.&#8217;

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Tell Baruch,<n id="2" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I am about to tear down what I have built and to uproot what I have planted. I will do this throughout the whole earth.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell<n id="1" /> you not to be afraid,p> <p class="poetry">you descendants of Jacob, my servant,p> <p class="poetry">for I am with you.p> <p class="poetry">Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you,p> <p class="poetry">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="poetry">&#8220;Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will be like an overflowing stream.p> <p class="poetry">They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood.p> <p class="poetry">They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants.p> <p class="poetry">People will cry out in alarm.p> <p class="poetry">Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain.p>

<p class="poetry">I will cause enemies to blow through Elam from every directionp> <p class="poetry">like the winds blowing in from the four quarters of heaven.p> <p class="poetry">I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds.p> <p class="poetry">There will not be any nation where the refugees of Elam will not go.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth.p> <p class="poetry">I will unleash my power against you;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain.<n id="4" />p>

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it.<n id="1" /> They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah.<n id="2" />

They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king&#8217;s garden.<n id="1" /> (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>, as well as the movable stands and the large bronze basin called the &#8220;The Sea.&#8221;<n id="1" /> They took all the bronze to Babylon.

The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple (including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called &#8220;The Sea,&#8221; the twelve bronze bulls under &#8220;The Sea,&#8221; and the movable stands<n id="1" />) was too heavy to be weighed.

The bronze top of one pillar was about seven and one-half feet<n id="1" /> high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its pomegranate-shaped ornaments was like it.

in Nebuchadnezzar&#8217;s twenty-third year,<n id="1" /> Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, carried into exile 745 Judeans. In all 4,600 people went into exile.p>

<p class="bodytext">I also told the priests and all the people, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that<n id="1" /> the valuable articles taken from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon.<n id="2" /> But they are prophesying a lie to you.

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say: &#8220;You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman.<n id="1" /> Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom<n id="2" /> to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" /> I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you.<n id="4" />