<p class="poetry">&#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Beware! An army<n id="1" /> is coming from a land in the north.p> <p class="poetry">A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.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">How can you say, &#8220;We are wise!p> <p class="poetry">We have the law of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8221;?p> <p class="poetry">The truth is,<n id="1" /> those who teach it<n id="2" /> have used their writingsp> <p class="poetry">to make it say what it does not really mean.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Listen! News is coming even now.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The rumble of a great army is heard approaching<n id="2" /> from a land in the north.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,p> <p class="poetry">places where only jackals live.p>

<p class="bodytext">Yet<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="2" /> &#8220;A new time will certainly come.<n id="3" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8217;

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise<n id="1" /> that a new time will certainly come<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">when I will raise up for them a righteous branch,<n id="3" /> a descendant of David.p> <p class="poetry">He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and will do what is just and right in the land.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;A new time will certainly come.<n id="2" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Disaster will soon come on one nation after another.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">A mighty storm of military destruction<n id="3" /> is rising upp> <p class="poetry">from the distant parts of the earth.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">Then I will reply,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will bring them back from the land of the north.p> <p class="poetry">I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">Blind and lame people will come with them,p> <p class="poetry">so will pregnant women and women about to give birth.p> <p class="poetry">A vast throng of people will come back here.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;Indeed, a time is coming,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="2" /> &#8220;when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Indeed, a time is coming,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> &#8220;when I will make a new covenant<n id="2" /> with the people of Israel and Judah.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm:<n id="1" /> &#8216;The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">But the time is coming when I will sendp> <p class="poetry">men against Moab who will empty it out.p> <p class="poetry">They will empty the towns of their people,p> <p class="poetry">then will lay those towns in ruins.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings,p> <p class="poetry">a nation will soar up and swoop down on Bozrah.p> <p class="poetry">At that time the soldiers of Edom will be as fearfulp> <p class="poetry">as a woman in labor.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">They will ask the way to Zion;p> <p class="poetry">they will turn their faces toward it.p> <p class="poetry">They will come<n id="1" /> and bind themselves to the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;So the time will certainly come<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when I will punish the idols of Babylon.p> <p class="poetry">Her whole land will be put to shame.p> <p class="poetry">All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Yes, but the time will certainly come,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;when I will punish her idols.p> <p class="poetry">Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.p>

Then say, &#8216;In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments<n id="1" /> I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.&#8217;&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">The prophecies of Jeremiah end here.<n id="2" />p>

I, the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> hereby promise to make you<n id="2" /> as strong as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. You will be able to stand up against all who live in<n id="3" /> the land, including the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and all the people of the land.

<p class="poetry">Hear this, you peoples of the earth:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Take note!<n id="2" /> I am about to bring disaster on these people.p> <p class="poetry">It will come as punishment for their scheming.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have paid no attention to what I have said,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and they have rejected my law.p>