For whenever I prophesy, ¹  I must cry out, ²  “Violence and destruction are coming!” ³  This message from the Lord ⁴  has made me an object of continual insults and derision.

The Lord told me, ¹  “Make a yoke ²  out of leather straps and wooden crossbars and put it on your neck.

They set out to go to Egypt to get away from the Babylonians, ¹  but stopped at Geruth Kimham ²  near Bethlehem. ³ 

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 

So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out seven ounces of silver and gave it to him to pay for it. ¹ 

The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem ¹  and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. ²  For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” ³ 

I signed the deed of purchase, ¹  sealed it, and had some men serve as witnesses to the purchase. ²  I weighed out the silver for him on a scale.

They will answer, ‘Moab is disgraced, for it has fallen! Wail and cry out in mourning! Announce along the Arnon River that Moab has been destroyed.’

For a nation from the north ¹  will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’

When the king and all his bodyguards ¹  and officials heard what he was prophesying, ²  the king sought to have him executed. But Uriah found out about it and fled to Egypt out of fear. ³ 

“The Lord God of Israel has a message for you. ¹  ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors ²  when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. ³  It stipulated, ⁴ 

When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, ¹  I will hear your prayers. ² 

You used your mighty power and your great strength to perform miracles and amazing deeds and to bring great terror on the Egyptians. By this means you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt. ¹ 

Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors ¹  to keep ²  when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace. ³  I said at that time, ⁴  “Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement ⁵  exactly as I commanded you. If you do, ⁶  you will be my people and I will be your God. ⁷ 

“Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river. ¹  They will be like an overflowing stream. They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood. They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants. People will cry out in alarm. Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain.

The Lord is the one who ¹  by his power made the earth. He is the one who by his wisdom established the world. And by his understanding he spread out the skies.

He is the one who ¹  by his power made the earth. He is the one who by his wisdom fixed the world in place, by his understanding he spread out the heavens.

Wail, you people in Heshbon, because Ai in Ammon is destroyed. Cry out in anguish, you people in the villages surrounding ¹  Rabbah. Put on sackcloth and cry out in mourning. Run about covered with gashes. ²  For your god Milcom will go into exile along with his priests and officials. ³ 

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 

Ebed Melech ¹  called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes. ²  Jeremiah did as Ebed Melech instructed. ³