<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke further to Jeremiah.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke still further to Jeremiah.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah.

Then the <sc>Lordsc> reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, &#8220;I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me.<n id="1" />

Israel was set apart to the <sc>Lordsc>; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him.<n id="1" /> All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> told me about<n id="1" /> some men from Anathoth<n id="2" /> who were threatening to kill me.<n id="3" /> They had threatened,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Stop prophesying in the name of the <sc>Lordsc> or we will kill you!&#8221;<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">Yet<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="2" /> &#8220;A new time will certainly come.<n id="3" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8217;

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will put a curse on peoplep> <p class="poetry">who trust in mere human beings,p> <p class="poetry">who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and whose hearts<n id="3" /> have turned away from the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">You are the one in whom Israel may find hope.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">All who leave you will suffer shame.p> <p class="poetry">Those who turn away from you<n id="2" /> will be consigned to the nether world.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have rejected you, the <sc>Lordsc>, the fountain of life.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the <sc>Lordsc> had sent him to give that prophecy. He went to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and stood<n id="1" /> in its courtyard and called out to all the people.

<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">&#8220;Do you really think anyone can hide himselfp> <p class="poetry">where I cannot see him?&#8221; the <sc>Lordsc> asks.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do you not know that I am everywhere?&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the <sc>Lordsc> asks.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So I, Jeremiah, tell you,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, &#8216;How did the <sc>Lordsc> answer? Or what did the <sc>Lordsc> say?&#8217;<n id="2" />

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" />

<p class="bodytext">So I took the cup from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">The sounds of battle<n id="1" /> will resound to the ends of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will bring charges against the nations.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He will pass judgment on all humankindp> <p class="poetry">and will hand the wicked over to be killed in war.&#8217;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> so affirms it!<n id="4" />p>

<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" />

But correct the way you have been living and do what is right.<n id="1" /> Obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God. If you do, the <sc>Lordsc> will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would.<n id="2" />

Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> has already spoken<n id="2" /> about the valuable articles that are left in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

So the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I will most assuredly remove<n id="1" /> you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counseled rebellion against the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>