<p class="bodytext">On the day after Gedaliah had been murdered, before anyone even knew about it,

But Ishmael son of Nethaniah managed to escape from Johanan along with eight of his men, and he went on over to Ammon.p>

<p class="poetry">So her young men will fall in her city squares.p> <p class="poetry">All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">I used you to smash men and women.p> <p class="poetry">I used you to smash old men and young men.p> <p class="poetry">I used you to smash young men and young women.p>

<p class="poetry">They will report that the fords have been captured,p> <p class="poetry">the reed marshes have been burned,p> <p class="poetry">the soldiers are terrified.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Get out of Babylon, my people!p> <p class="poetry">Flee to save your livesp> <p class="poetry">from the fierce anger of the <sc>Lordsc>!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;If a man divorces his wifep> <p class="poetry">and she leaves him and becomes another man&#8217;s wife,p> <p class="poetry">he may not take her back again.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Doing that would utterly defile the land.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">So what makes you think you can return to me?&#8221;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem<n id="1" /> this: The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you.<n id="2" /> So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing.<n id="3" /> Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.&#8217;<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime.p> <p class="poetry">For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of Davidp> <p class="poetry">or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me.<n id="1" /> For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;For<n id="3" /> I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.&#8221;p>

All the people and their leaders had agreed to this. They had agreed to free their male and female slaves and not keep them enslaved any longer. They originally complied with the covenant and freed them.<n id="1" />

But then you turned right around<n id="1" /> and showed that you did not honor me.<n id="2" /> Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again.<n id="3" />

For even if you were to defeat all the Babylonian forces<n id="1" /> fighting against you so badly that only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now some of the officers of the Judean army and their troops had been hiding in the countryside. They heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam to govern<n id="1" /> the country. They also heard that he had been put in charge over the men, women, and children from the poorer classes of the land who had not been carried off into exile in Babylon.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Yes,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> has this to sayp> <p class="poetry">to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground,p> <p class="poetry">you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning;p> <p class="poetry">just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted,p> <p class="poetry">you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">At the sound of the approaching horsemen and archersp> <p class="poetry">the people of every town will flee.p> <p class="poetry">Some of them will hide in the thickets.p> <p class="poetry">Others will climb up among the rocks.p> <p class="poetry">All the cities will be deserted.p> <p class="poetry">No one will remain in them.p>

You must change<n id="1" /> the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.p> <p class="poetry">He must not even trust any of his relatives.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For every one of them will find some way to cheat him.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">And all of his friends will tell lies about him.p>

<p class="poetry">One friend deceives anotherp> <p class="poetry">and no one tells the truth.p> <p class="poetry">These people have trained themselves<n id="1" /> to tell lies.p> <p class="poetry">They do wrong and are unable to repent.p>

Tell them that the <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, says, &#8216;Anyone who does not keep the terms of the covenant will be under a curse.<n id="1" />