<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;Do not weep for the king who was killed.p> <p class="poetry">Do not grieve for him.p> <p class="poetry">But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile.p> <p class="poetry">For he will never return to see his native land again.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;A new time will certainly come.<n id="2" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">Yet which of them has ever stood in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s inner circle<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so they<n id="2" /> could see and hear what he has to say?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?p>

You must no longer say that the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s message is burdensome.<n id="1" /> For what is &#8216;burdensome&#8217;<n id="2" /> really pertains to what a person himself says.<n id="3" /> You are misrepresenting<n id="4" /> the words of our God, the living God, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="5" />

This whole area<n id="1" /> will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah<n id="2" /> at the beginning of the reign<n id="3" /> of Josiah&#8217;s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah.

<p class="bodytext">However, some of the officials<n id="1" /> of Judah heard about what was happening<n id="2" /> and they rushed up to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple from the royal palace. They set up court<n id="3" /> at the entrance of the New Gate of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="4" />

When the king and all his bodyguards<n id="1" /> and officials heard what he was prophesying,<n id="2" /> the king sought to have him executed. But Uriah found out about it and fled to Egypt out of fear.<n id="3" />

However, King Jehoiakim sent some men to Egypt, including Elnathan son of Achbor,<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">However, Ahikam son of Shaphan<n id="1" /> used his influence to keep Jeremiah from being handed over and executed by the people.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah<n id="1" /> early in the reign of Josiah&#8217;s son, King Zedekiah of Judah.<n id="2" />

Charge them to give their masters a message from me. Tell them, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says to give your masters this message.<n id="2" />

Things will go better for the nation that submits to the yoke of servitude to<n id="1" /> the king of Babylon and is subject to him. I will leave that nation<n id="2" /> in its native land. Its people can continue to farm it and live in it. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

There is no reason why you and your people should die in war<n id="1" /> or from starvation or disease!<n id="2" /> That&#8217;s what the <sc>Lordsc> says will happen to any nation<n id="3" /> that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve<n id="1" /> the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you.

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you<n id="2" /> listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

Do not listen to them. Be subject to the king of Babylon. Then you<n id="1" /> will continue to live. Why should this city be made a pile of rubble?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

He has said, &#8216;They will be carried off to Babylon. They will remain there until it is time for me to show consideration for them again.<n id="1" /> Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.&#8217; I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm this!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah&#8217;s neck, the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah.

For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us,<n id="1" /> &#8220;You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>