<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Come back to me, my wayward sons,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;for I am your true master.<n id="1" /> If you do,<n id="2" /> I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

He was given daily provisions by the king of Babylon for the rest of his life until the day he died.p>

<p class="poetry">Cries of anguish will arise in Horonaim,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Oh, the ruin and great destruction!&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">So their land will become an object of horror.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">People will forever hiss out their scorn over it.p> <p class="poetry">All who pass that way will be filled with horrorp> <p class="poetry">and will shake their heads in derision.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

I will kill everything living in Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> people and animals alike! They will die from terrible diseases.

<p class="poetry">Destructive forces will come against her horses and her<n id="1" /> chariots.p> <p class="poetry">Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they will be as frightened as women!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Destructive forces will come against her treasures;p> <p class="poetry">they will be taken away as plunder!p>

Jeremiah recorded<n id="1" /> on one scroll all the judgments<n id="2" /> that would come upon Babylon &#8211; all these prophecies<n id="3" /> written about Babylon.

<p class="bodytext">I answered, &#8220;Oh, Lord <sc>Godsc>,<n id="1" /> I really<n id="2" /> do not know how to speak well enough for that,<n id="3" /> for I am too young.&#8221;<n id="4" />

So I bought the shorts as the <sc>Lordsc> had told me to do<n id="1" /> and put them on.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Do not cause me dismay!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You are my source of safety in times of trouble.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Oh, mother, how I regret<n id="2" /> that you ever gave birth to me!p> <p class="poetry">I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone.p> <p class="poetry">Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Something horrible and shockingp> <p class="poetry">is going on in the land of Judah:p>

Then the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to me again and said,<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Moab will be crushed.p> <p class="poetry">Her children will cry out in distress.<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Run for safety, people of Benjamin!p> <p class="poetry">Get out of Jerusalem!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Sound the trumpet<n id="2" /> in Tekoa!p> <p class="poetry">Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!p> <p class="poetry">For disaster lurks<n id="3" /> out of the north;p> <p class="poetry">it will bring great destruction.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Flee quickly, you who live in Hazor.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Take up refuge in remote places.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has laid out plans to attack you.p> <p class="poetry">He has formed his strategy on how to defeat you.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have plotted rebellion against me!<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Yes,<n id="1" /> here is what he says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;You hear cries of panic and of terror;p> <p class="poetry">there is no peace in sight.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;p> <p class="poetry">it will burn up the palaces of Ben Hadad.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>