<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for<n id="1" /> these people, I would not feel pity for them!<n id="2" /> Get them away from me! Tell them to go away!<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Their widows will become in my sight more numerous<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">than the grains of sand on the seashores.p> <p class="poetry">At noontime I will bring a destroyerp> <p class="poetry">against the mothers of their young men.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will cause anguish<n id="3" /> and terrorp> <p class="poetry">to fall suddenly upon them.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">But you are always thinking and lookingp> <p class="poetry">for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means.p> <p class="poetry">Your eyes and your heart are setp> <p class="poetry">on killing some innocent personp> <p class="poetry">and committing fraud and oppression.<n id="1" />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>

Tell them that the <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;You must obey me! You must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws.<n id="2" />

<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">The <sc>Lordsc> affirms,<n id="1" /> &#8220;The descendants of Israel will notp> <p class="poetry">cease forever to be a nation in my sight.p> <p class="poetry">That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lightsp> <p class="poetry">were to cease to operate before me.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

&#8220;I, <sc>Lordsc>, make the following promise:<n id="1" /> &#8216;I have made a covenant with the day<n id="2" /> and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people<n id="3" /> could break that covenant

But I, the <sc>Lordsc>, make the following promise:<n id="1" /> I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth.

&#8220;Find Jeremiah<n id="1" /> and look out for him.<n id="2" /> Do not do anything to harm him,<n id="3" /> but do with him whatever he tells you.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel?p> <p class="poetry">Did you think that they were nothing but thieves,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">that you shook your head in contempt<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">every time you talked about them?<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">You people of this generation,p> <p class="poetry">listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?p> <p class="poetry">Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Why then do you<n id="2" /> say, &#8216;We are free to wander.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">We will not come to you any more?&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;You should fear me!&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;You should tremble in awe before me!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea,p> <p class="poetry">a permanent barrier that it can never cross.p> <p class="poetry">Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail.p> <p class="poetry">They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

I also explicitly commanded them:<n id="1" /> &#8220;Obey me. If you do, I<n id="2" /> will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you<n id="3" /> and things will go well with you.&#8221;

So, watch out!&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley<n id="2" /> the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">I hear my dear people<n id="1" /> crying out<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">throughout the length and breadth of the land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They are crying, &#8216;Is the <sc>Lordsc> no longer in Zion?p> <p class="poetry">Is her divine King<n id="4" /> no longer there?&#8217;&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> answers,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,p> <p class="poetry">with their worthless foreign idols?&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">If people want to boast, they should boast about this:p> <p class="poetry">They should boast that they understand and know me.p> <p class="poetry">They should boast that they know and understandp> <p class="poetry">that I, the <sc>Lordsc>, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earthp> <p class="poetry">and that I desire people to do these things,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people.<n id="1" /> Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal.<n id="2" /> But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives, I swear.&#8221;<n id="3" /> If they do these things,<n id="4" /> then they will be included among the people I call my own.<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">If I go out into the countryside,p> <p class="poetry">I see those who have been killed in battle.p> <p class="poetry">If I go into the city,p> <p class="poetry">I see those who are sick because of starvation.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For both prophet and priest go about their own businessp> <p class="poetry">in the land without having any real understanding.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then I said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;<sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> have you completely rejected the nation of Judah?p> <p class="poetry">Do you despise<n id="2" /> the city of Zion?p> <p class="poetry">Why have you struck us with such forcep> <p class="poetry">that we are beyond recovery?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">We hope for peace, but nothing good has come of it.p> <p class="poetry">We hope for a time of relief from our troubles, but experience terror.<n id="4" />p>