<p class="poetry">I the King, whose name is the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" /> swear this:p> <p class="poetry">I swear as surely as I live that<n id="2" /> a conqueror is coming.p> <p class="poetry">He will be as imposing as Mount Tabor is among the mountains,p> <p class="poetry">as Mount Carmel is against the backdrop of the sea.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">But the one who will rescue them<n id="1" /> is strong.p> <p class="poetry">He is known as the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He will strongly<n id="3" /> champion their cause.p> <p class="poetry">As a result<n id="4" /> he will bring peace and rest to the earth,p> <p class="poetry">but trouble and turmoil<n id="5" /> to the people who inhabit Babylonia.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you accomplish nothing<n id="2" /> by wearing a beautiful dress,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">decking yourself out in jewels of gold,p> <p class="poetry">and putting on eye shadow!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.p> <p class="poetry">Your lovers spurn you.p> <p class="poetry">They want to kill you.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, also have something to say concerning<n id="1" /> the wicked nations who surround my land<n id="2" /> and have attacked and plundered<n id="3" /> the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession.<n id="4" /> I say: &#8216;I will uproot the people of those nations from their lands and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there.<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">O royal family descended from David.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;See to it that people each day<n id="2" /> are judged fairly.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Deliver those who have been robbed from those<n id="4" /> who oppress them.p> <p class="poetry">Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.p> <p class="poetry">It will burn like a fire that cannot be put outp> <p class="poetry">because of the evil that you have done.<n id="5" />p>

&#8220;But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel<n id="1" /> after I plant them back in the land,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="3" /> &#8220;I will<n id="4" /> put my law within them<n id="5" /> and write it on their hearts and minds.<n id="6" /> I will be their God and they will be my people.<n id="7" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel told Jeremiah<n id="1" /> to go and give King Zedekiah of Judah a message. He told Jeremiah<n id="2" /> to tell him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I am going to<n id="3" /> hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down.

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says, &#8216;Give a message to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me to help him.<n id="1" /> Tell him, &#8220;The army of Pharaoh that was on its way to help you will go back home to Egypt.<n id="2" />

Now the cistern where Ishmael threw all the dead bodies of those he had killed was a large one<n id="1" /> that King Asa had constructed as part of his defenses against King Baasha of Israel.<n id="2" /> Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with dead bodies.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Sharpen<n id="1" /> your arrows!p> <p class="poetry">Fill your quivers!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will arouse a spirit of hostility in<n id="3" /> the kings of Media.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For he intends to destroy Babylonia.p> <p class="poetry">For that is how the <sc>Lordsc> will get his revenge &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians&#8217; destruction of his temple.<n id="5" />p>

<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>

<p class="poetry">Do you people think<n id="1" /> that I am some local deityp> <p class="poetry">and not the transcendent God?&#8221;<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> asks.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Destructive forces will come against her false prophets;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they will be shown to be fools!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Destructive forces will come against her soldiers;p> <p class="poetry">they will be filled with terror!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">For messengers are coming, heralding disaster,p> <p class="poetry">from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim.<n id="1" />p>

I will chase after them with war,<n id="1" /> starvation, and disease. I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to them. I will make them examples of those who are cursed, objects of horror, hissing scorn, and ridicule among all the nations where I exile them.

<p class="poetry">All this will happen because the <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The whole land will be desolate;p> <p class="poetry">however, I will not completely destroy it.p>

<p class="poetry">Cries of anguish will come from Babylon,p> <p class="poetry">the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.p>

&#8220;Do not get married and do not have children here in this land.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;<sc>Lordsc>, from the very beginningp> <p class="poetry">you have been seated on your glorious throne on high.p> <p class="poetry">You are the place where we can find refuge.p>

<p class="poetry">For whenever I prophesy,<n id="1" /> I must cry out,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Violence and destruction are coming!&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">This message from the <sc>Lordsc><n id="4" /> has made mep> <p class="poetry">an object of continual insults and derision.p>