However, Ahikam son of Shaphan ¹  used his influence to keep Jeremiah from being handed over and executed by the people. ² 

He has said, ‘They will be carried off to Babylon. They will remain there until it is time for me to show consideration for them again. ¹  Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’ I, the Lord, affirm this!” ² 

Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the Lord for it. For as it prospers you will prosper.’

Yes, a time is coming when watchmen ¹  will call out on the mountains of Ephraim, “Come! Let us go to Zion to worship the Lord our God!”’” ² 

Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it! ²  Even if you ³  continue to fight against the Babylonians, ⁴  you cannot win.’”

For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, “Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”’ 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 

Baruch answered, “Yes, they came from his own mouth. He dictated all these words to me and I wrote them down in ink on this scroll.” ¹ 

At that time the Babylonian forces ¹  had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. ²  They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt. ³ )

So ¹  Jeremiah was put in prison in a cell in the dungeon in Jonathan’s house. ²  He ³  was kept there for a long time.

If they do this, tell ¹  them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to die in the dungeon of Jonathan’s house.’” ² 

So Jeremiah remained confined ¹  in the courtyard of the guardhouse until the day Jerusalem ²  was captured.The following events occurred when Jerusalem ³  was captured. ⁴ 

The women added, ¹  “We did indeed sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven. But it was with the full knowledge and approval of our husbands that we made cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her.” ² 

The nations will hear of your devastating defeat. ¹  your cries of distress will echo throughout the earth. In the panic of their flight one soldier will trip over another and both of them will fall down defeated.” ² 

In fact, ¹  I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby. It is the cry of Daughter Zion ²  gasping for breath, reaching out for help, ³  saying, “I am done in! ⁴  My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

So, this is what the Lord says: ‘I will assuredly ¹  make these people stumble to their doom. ²  Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. ³  Friends and neighbors will die.’

Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you. ¹  Vent it on the peoples ²  who do not worship you. ³  For they have destroyed the people of Jacob. ⁴  They have completely destroyed them ⁵  and left their homeland in utter ruin.

Do any of the worthless idols ¹  of the nations cause rain to fall? Do the skies themselves send showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ²  So we put our hopes in you ³  because you alone do all this.”

But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through ¹  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.’”

They have built places here ¹  for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices ²  are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!