<p class="poetry">Sounds of violence<n id="1" /> will no longer be heard in your land,p> <p class="poetry">or the sounds of<n id="2" /> destruction and devastation within your borders.p> <p class="poetry">You will name your walls, &#8216;Deliverance,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">and your gates, &#8216;Praise.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">You will be called, &#8216;the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s priests,p> <p class="poetry">servants of our God.&#8217;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You will enjoy<n id="2" /> the wealth of nationsp> <p class="poetry">and boast about<n id="3" /> the riches you receive from them.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Nations will see your vindication,p> <p class="poetry">and all kings your splendor.p> <p class="poetry">You will be called by a new namep> <p class="poetry">that the <sc>Lordsc> himself will give you.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">No one invokes<n id="1" /> your name,p> <p class="poetry">or makes an effort<n id="2" /> to take hold of you.p> <p class="poetry">For you have rejected us<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and handed us over to our own sins.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;I made myself available to those who did not ask for me;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I appeared to those who did not look for me.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I said, &#8216;Here I am! Here I am!&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">to a nation that did not invoke<n id="3" /> my name.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Announce<n id="2" /> this in Judah and proclaim it in Jerusalem:<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Sound the trumpet<n id="4" /> throughout the land!&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">Shout out loudly,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Gather together! Let us flee into the fortified cities!&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">I see<n id="1" /> one destruction after another taking place,p> <p class="poetry">so that the whole land lies in ruins.p> <p class="poetry">I see our<n id="2" /> tents suddenly destroyed,p> <p class="poetry">their<n id="3" /> curtains torn down in a mere instant.<n id="4" />p>

Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own<n id="1" /> and say, &#8220;We are safe!&#8221; You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins!<n id="2" />

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>.

So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own,<n id="1" /> this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors,<n id="2" /> just like I destroyed Shiloh.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me,<n id="1" /> &#8220;When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you.

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I have rejected them because<n id="1" /> the people of Judah have done what I consider evil.<n id="2" /> They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple<n id="3" /> which I have claimed for my own<n id="4" /> and have defiled it.

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> told me to say to this people,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Take note of what I say.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Call for the women who mourn for the dead!p> <p class="poetry">Summon those who are the most skilled at it!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, once called<n id="1" /> you a thriving olive tree,p> <p class="poetry">one that produced beautiful fruit.p> <p class="poetry">But I will set you<n id="2" /> on fire,p> <p class="poetry">fire that will blaze with a mighty roar.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then all your branches will be good for nothing.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Why should you be like someone who is helpless,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like a champion<n id="2" /> who cannot save anyone?p> <p class="poetry">You are indeed with us,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and we belong to you.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not abandon us!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">As your words came to me I drank them in,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and they filled my heart with joy and happinessp> <p class="poetry">because I belong to you.<n id="2" />p>

Go out to the part of the Hinnom Valley which is near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate.<n id="1" /> Announce there what I tell you.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">For whenever I prophesy,<n id="1" /> I must cry out,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Violence and destruction are coming!&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">This message from the <sc>Lordsc><n id="4" /> has made mep> <p class="poetry">an object of continual insults and derision.p>

<p class="poetry">Yes,<n id="1" /> I will restore you to health.p> <p class="poetry">I will heal your wounds.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For you have been called an outcast,p> <p class="poetry">Zion, whom no one cares for.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Yes, a time is comingp> <p class="poetry">when watchmen<n id="1" /> will call out on the mountains of Ephraim,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Come! Let us go to Zionp> <p class="poetry">to worship the <sc>Lordsc> our God!&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>