For our leaders ¹  are stupid. They have not sought the Lord’s advice. ²  So they do not act wisely, and the people they are responsible for ³  have all been scattered.

So I, the Lord, say this: ¹  ‘I will soon bring disaster on them which they will not be able to escape! When they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them.

Then the Lord told me about ¹  some men from Anathoth ²  who were threatening to kill me. ³  They had threatened, ⁴  “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!” ⁵ 

So the Lord who rules over all ¹  said, “I will surely ²  punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle. ³  Their sons and daughters will die of starvation.

Yet ¹  I, the Lord, say: ²  “A new time will certainly come. ³  People now affirm their oaths with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.’

The Lord said, ¹  “So I will now let this wicked people know – I will let them know my mighty power in judgment. Then they will know that my name is the Lord.” ² 

Therefore, the Lord says, “Ask the people of other nations whether they have heard of anything like this. Israel should have been like a virgin. But she has done something utterly revolting!

“So I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘A new time will certainly come. ²  People now affirm their oaths with “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.”

For the land is full of people unfaithful to him. ¹  They live wicked lives and they misuse their power. ²  So the land is dried up ³  because it is under his curse. ⁴  The pastures in the wilderness are withered.

So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery. They will stumble and fall headlong. For I will bring disaster on them. A day of reckoning is coming for them.” ¹  The Lord affirms it! ² 

So ¹  I will carry you far off ²  and throw you away. I will send both you and the city I gave to you and to your ancestors out of my sight. ³ 

So the Lord says, ‘I will most assuredly remove ¹  you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counseled rebellion against the Lord.’” ² 

For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us, ¹  “You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.”’” ² 

But ¹  all who destroyed you will be destroyed. All your enemies will go into exile. Those who plundered you will be plundered. I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged. ² 

In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ² 

Therefore I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘I will indeed hand ²  this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army. ³  They will capture it.

But later ¹  they had changed their minds. They had taken back their male and female slaves that they had freed and forced them to be slaves again. ² 

So the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a male descendant to serve me.’” ¹ 

“Find Jeremiah ¹  and look out for him. ²  Do not do anything to harm him, ³  but do with him whatever he tells you.”

“Because of this, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘I am determined to bring disaster on you, ¹  even to the point of destroying all the Judeans here. ²