<p class="poetry">I will destroy<n id="1" /> Daughter Zion,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">who is as delicate and defenseless as a young maiden.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away.p> <p class="poetry">He will be like a clay vessel<n id="1" /> that no one wants.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Why will he and his children be forced into exile?p> <p class="poetry">Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about?<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Leave your towns, you inhabitants of Moab.p> <p class="poetry">Go and live in the cliffs.p> <p class="poetry">Be like a dove that makes its nestp> <p class="poetry">high on the sides of a ravine.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?p> <p class="poetry">Why then do I see all these strong menp> <p class="poetry">grabbing their stomachs in pain like<n id="2" /> a woman giving birth?p> <p class="poetry">And why do their facesp> <p class="poetry">turn so deathly pale?p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I thought to myself,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">What a joy it would be for me to give<n id="3" /> you a pleasant land,p> <p class="poetry">the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!&#8217;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">I thought you would call me, &#8216;Father&#8217;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">and would never cease being loyal to me.<n id="6" />p>

You should have reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth who is pretending to be a prophet among you!<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them.p> <p class="poetry">Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them.p> <p class="poetry">Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their citiesp> <p class="poetry">and totally destroy anyone who ventures out.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have rebelled so muchp> <p class="poetry">and done so many unfaithful things.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">But just watch!<n id="1" /> The wrath of the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">will come like a storm!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Like a raging storm it will rage down<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">on the heads of those who are wicked.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Tell these people this, Jeremiah:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;My eyes overflow with tearsp> <p class="poetry">day and night without ceasing.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For my people, my dear children,<n id="3" /> have suffered a crushing blow.p> <p class="poetry">They have suffered a serious wound.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">They will hear, &#8216;Run! Save yourselves!p> <p class="poetry">Even if you must be like a lonely shrub in the desert!&#8217;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, once called<n id="1" /> you a thriving olive tree,p> <p class="poetry">one that produced beautiful fruit.p> <p class="poetry">But I will set you<n id="2" /> on fire,p> <p class="poetry">fire that will blaze with a mighty roar.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then all your branches will be good for nothing.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry"><v id="(8:23)" /><n id="1" /> I wish that my head were a well full of water<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!p> <p class="poetry">If they were, I could cry day and nightp> <p class="poetry">for those of my dear people<n id="3" /> who have been killed.p>

<p class="poetry">I said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I have heard a message from the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">A messenger has been sent among the nations to say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Gather your armies and march out against her!p> <p class="poetry">Prepare to do battle with her!&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;People of Babylonia,<n id="1" /> you plundered my people.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">That made you happy and glad.p> <p class="poetry">You frolic about like calves in a pasture.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s work!p> <p class="poetry">A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">They will surround Jerusalem<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like men guarding a field<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because they have rebelled against me,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise: &#8220;David will never lack a successor to occupy<n id="1" /> the throne over the nation of Israel.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Moab will be destroyed and no longer be a nation,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because she has vaunted herself against the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will cause a destructive wind<n id="1" /> to blowp> <p class="poetry">against<n id="2" /> Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">They did not ask:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Where is the <sc>Lordsc> who delivered us out of Egypt,p> <p class="poetry">who brought us through the wilderness,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of drought and deep darkness,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">through a land in which no one travels,p> <p class="poetry">and where no one lives?&#8217;<n id="2" />p>