&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says, &#8216;Give a message to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me to help him.<n id="1" /> Tell him, &#8220;The army of Pharaoh that was on its way to help you will go back home to Egypt.<n id="2" />

&#8220;Go<n id="1" /> and tell Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8220;I will carry out against this city what I promised. It will mean disaster and not good fortune for it.<n id="2" /> When that disaster happens, you will be there to see it.<n id="3" />

If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says. The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;If you are so determined<n id="2" /> to go to Egypt that you go and settle there,

Then tell them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says, &#8220;I will bring<n id="3" /> my servant<n id="4" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones which I<n id="5" /> have buried. He will pitch his royal tent<n id="6" /> over them.

He will set fire<n id="1" /> to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their gods or carry them off as captives.<n id="2" /> He will pick Egypt clean like a shepherd picks the lice from his clothing.<n id="3" /> He will leave there unharmed.<n id="4" />

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;You have seen all the disaster I brought on Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and all the towns of Judah. Indeed, they now lie in ruins and are deserted.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8220;I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes.<n id="2" /> I will punish Egypt, its gods, and its kings. I will punish Pharaoh and all who trust in him.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">So I, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all, say:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will punish the king of Babylon and his landp> <p class="poetry">just as I punished the king of Assyria.p>

<p class="bodytext">Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple.<n id="1" /> He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.

The cherubim spread<n id="1" /> their wings, and they rose up from the earth<n id="2" /> while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.p>

The <sc>Lordsc> said to me: &#8220;This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut.

Later Daniel entered (whose name is Belteshazzar after the name of my god,<n id="1" /> and in whom there is a spirit of the holy gods). I recounted the dream for him as well,

My God sent his angel and closed the lions&#8217; mouths so that they have not harmed me, because I was found to be innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.&#8221;p>

Listen attentively,<n id="1" /> my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins<n id="2" /> and the city called by your name.<n id="3" /> For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you,<n id="4" /> but because your compassion is abundant.

<p class="poetry">For here he is!p> <p class="poetry">He<n id="1" /> formed the mountains and created the wind.p> <p class="poetry">He reveals<n id="2" /> his plans<n id="3" /> to men.p> <p class="poetry">He turns the dawn into darkness<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and marches on the heights of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>, the God who commands armies,<n id="5" /> is his name!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Because of Israel&#8217;s sins<n id="1" /> this is what the <sc>Lordsc>, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One,<n id="2" /> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;In all the squares there will be wailing,p> <p class="poetry">in all the streets they will mourn the dead.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will tell the field workers<n id="4" /> to lamentp> <p class="poetry">and the professional mourners<n id="5" /> to wail.p>

<p class="poetry">Many nations will come, saying,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Come on! Let&#8217;s go up to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s mountain,p> <p class="poetry">to the temple<n id="1" /> of Jacob&#8217;s God,p> <p class="poetry">so he can teach us his commands<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and we can live by his laws.&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For Zion will be the source of instruction;p> <p class="poetry">the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore, as surely as I live,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, the God of Israel,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;be certain that Moab will become like Sodomp> <p class="poetry">and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.p> <p class="poetry">They will be overrun by weeds,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">filled with salt pits,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and permanently desolate.p> <p class="poetry">Those of my people who are left<n id="3" /> will plunder their belongings;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">those who are left in Judah<n id="5" /> will take possession of their land.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire;p> <p class="poetry">I will refine them like silver is refinedp> <p class="poetry">and will test them like gold is tested.p> <p class="poetry">They will call on my name and I will answer;p> <p class="poetry">I will say, &#8216;These are my people,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">and they will say, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> is my God.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Then you will escape<n id="1" /> through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal.<n id="2" /> Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah<n id="3" /> of Judah. Then the <sc>Lordsc> my God will come with all his holy ones with him.