But if you refuse to surrender, the <sc>Lordsc> has shown me a vision of what will happen. Here is what I saw:

Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, &#8220;When you arrive in Babylon, make sure<n id="1" /> you read aloud all these prophecies.<n id="2" />

Know for certain that<n id="1" /> I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be<n id="2" /> uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;How can you say, &#8216;I have not made myself unclean.p> <p class="poetry">I have not paid allegiance to<n id="1" /> the gods called Baal.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Think about the things you have done there!p> <p class="poetry">You are like a flighty, young female camelp> <p class="poetry">that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Look up at the hilltops and consider this.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You have had sex with other gods on every one of them.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.<n id="4" />p>

Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me.<n id="1" /> But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;These people have denied what the <sc>Lordsc> says.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They have said, &#8216;That is not so!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">No harm will come to us.p> <p class="poetry">We will not experience war and famine.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Tell them: &#8216;Hear this,p> <p class="poetry">you foolish people who have no understanding,p> <p class="poetry">who have eyes but do not discern,p> <p class="poetry">who have ears but do not perceive:<n id="1" />p>

Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own<n id="1" /> is to be a hideout for robbers?<n id="2" /> You had better take note!<n id="3" /> I have seen for myself what you have done! says the <sc>Lordsc>.

<p class="poetry">So I said to the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;O <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="2" /> you are a just judge!p> <p class="poetry">You examine people&#8217;s hearts and minds.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I want to see you pay them back for what they have donep> <p class="poetry">because I trust you to vindicate my cause.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">But you, <sc>Lordsc>, know all about me.p> <p class="poetry">You watch me and test my devotion to you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!p> <p class="poetry">Appoint a time when they will be killed!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">People of Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> I have seen your adulterous worship,p> <p class="poetry">your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I have seen your disgusting acts of worship<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">on the hills throughout the countryside.p> <p class="poetry">You are doomed to destruction!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">How long will you continue to be unclean?&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">They will be like a shrub<n id="1" /> in the desert.p> <p class="poetry">They will not experience good things even when they happen.p> <p class="poetry">It will be as though they were growing in the desert,p> <p class="poetry">in a salt land where no one can live.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;Do not weep for the king who was killed.p> <p class="poetry">Do not grieve for him.p> <p class="poetry">But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile.p> <p class="poetry">For he will never return to see his native land again.<n id="1" />p>

For he will die in the country where they took him as a captive. He will never see this land again.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Yet which of them has ever stood in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s inner circle<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so they<n id="2" /> could see and hear what he has to say?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?p>

<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>

When all the people that Ishmael had taken captive saw<n id="1" /> Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, they were glad.

<p class="poetry">What do I see?&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The soldiers<n id="3" /> are terrified.p> <p class="poetry">They are retreating.p> <p class="poetry">They have been defeated.p> <p class="poetry">They are overcome with terror;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">they desert quicklyp> <p class="poetry">without looking back.p>

<p class="poetry">Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment.p> <p class="poetry">Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">it was for you to reject me, the <sc>Lordsc> your God,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">to show no respect for me,&#8221;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">says the Lord <sc>Godsc> who rules over all.<n id="5" />p>