&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">All your allies have abandoned you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They no longer have any concern for you.p> <p class="poetry">For I have attacked you like an enemy would.p> <p class="poetry">I have chastened you cruelly.p> <p class="poetry">For your wickedness is so greatp> <p class="poetry">and your sin is so much.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Then I will reply,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will bring them back from the land of the north.p> <p class="poetry">I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">Blind and lame people will come with them,p> <p class="poetry">so will pregnant women and women about to give birth.p> <p class="poetry">A vast throng of people will come back here.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the tenth year that Zedekiah was ruling over Judah the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah.<n id="1" /> That was the same as the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;After I had given the copies of the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the <sc>Lordsc>,

You kept the promise that you swore on oath to their ancestors.<n id="1" /> You gave them a land flowing with milk and honey.<n id="2" />

Therefore I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will indeed hand<n id="2" /> this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army.<n id="3" /> They will capture it.

They have turned away from me instead of turning to me.<n id="1" /> I tried over and over again<n id="2" /> to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction.<n id="3" />

I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for<n id="1" /> their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm:<n id="1" /> &#8216;The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah.<n id="2" />

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel has a message for you.<n id="1" /> &#8216;I made a covenant with your ancestors<n id="2" /> when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves.<n id="3" /> It stipulated,<n id="4" />

I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim<n id="1" /> son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.<n id="2" />

Yes,<n id="1" /> the descendants of Jonadab son of Rechab have carried out the orders that their ancestor gave them. But you people<n id="2" /> have not obeyed me!

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year<n id="1" /> that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.<n id="2" />

Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.<n id="1" />

Baruch answered, &#8220;Yes, they came from his own mouth. He dictated all these words to me and I wrote them down in ink on this scroll.&#8221;<n id="1" />

The king did not even listen to Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah, who had urged him not to burn the scroll.<n id="1" />

At that time the Babylonian forces<n id="1" /> had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem.<n id="2" /> They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt.<n id="3" />)

Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, &#8220;What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison?<n id="1" />