<p class="bodytext">Because of this, the <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;You must repent of such words and thoughts!p> <p class="poetry">If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless,p> <p class="poetry">I will again allow you to be my spokesman.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They must become as you have been.p> <p class="poetry">You must not become like them.<n id="4" />p>

If you do this,<n id="1" /> then the kings and princes who follow in David&#8217;s succession<n id="2" /> and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to enter through these gates, as well as their officials and the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.<n id="3" /> This city will always be filled with people.<n id="4" />

I will do so because these people<n id="1" /> have rejected me and have defiled<n id="2" /> this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods which neither they nor their ancestors<n id="3" /> nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children.<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> says to the people of Jerusalem:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do not listen to whatp> <p class="poetry">those prophets are saying to you.p> <p class="poetry">They are filling you with false hopes.p> <p class="poetry">They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,p> <p class="poetry">not something the <sc>Lordsc> has given them to say.<n id="3" />p>

It will not be like the old<n id="1" /> covenant that I made with their ancestors<n id="2" /> when I delivered them<n id="3" /> from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,&#8221;<n id="4" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="5" />

I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness &#8211; they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem<n id="1" /> have done this wickedness.<n id="2" />

<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" />

So<n id="1" /> all these officers and their troops came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite.<n id="2" />

None of the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. Though they long to return and live there, none of them shall return except a few fugitives.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Even her mercenaries<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">will prove to be like pampered,<n id="2" /> well-fed calves.p> <p class="poetry">For they too will turn and run away.p> <p class="poetry">They will not stand their groundp> <p class="poetry">when<n id="3" /> the time for them to be destroyed comes,p> <p class="poetry">the time for them to be punished.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;When that time comes,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together.p> <p class="poetry">They will come back with tears of repentancep> <p class="poetry">as they seek the <sc>Lordsc> their God.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears.p> <p class="poetry">They are cruel and show no mercy.p> <p class="poetry">They sound like the roaring seap> <p class="poetry">as they ride forth on their horses.p> <p class="poetry">Lined up in formation like men going into battle,p> <p class="poetry">they are coming against you, fair Babylon!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">I also told the priests and all the people, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that<n id="1" /> the valuable articles taken from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon.<n id="2" /> But they are prophesying a lie to you.