&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it<n id="2" /> all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused<n id="3" /> to pay any attention to what I have said!&#8217;&#8221;p>

But the next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. When he did, Jeremiah said to him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s name for you is not &#8216;Pashhur&#8217; but &#8216;Terror is Everywhere.&#8217;<n id="1" />

For the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you.<n id="1" /> You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies.<n id="2" /> I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.

<p class="poetry">But the <sc>Lordsc> is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me.p> <p class="poetry">They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed.p> <p class="poetry">Their disgrace will never be forgotten.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah<n id="1" /> when King Zedekiah<n id="2" /> sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah.<n id="3" /> Zedekiah sent them to Jeremiah to ask,<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">O royal family descended from David.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;See to it that people each day<n id="2" /> are judged fairly.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Deliver those who have been robbed from those<n id="4" /> who oppress them.p> <p class="poetry">Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.p> <p class="poetry">It will burn like a fire that cannot be put outp> <p class="poetry">because of the evil that you have done.<n id="5" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those<n id="1" /> who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows.<n id="2" /> Do not kill innocent people<n id="3" /> in this land.

<p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;For the <sc>Lordsc> says concerning the palace of the king of Judah,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me.p> <p class="poetry">It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes.p> <p class="poetry">But I swear that I will make it like a wildernessp> <p class="poetry">whose towns have all been deserted.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;For the <sc>Lordsc> has spoken about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but was carried off into exile. He has said, &#8220;He will never return to this land.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">So<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> has this to say about Josiah&#8217;s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah:p> <p class="poetry">People will not mourn for him, saying,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;This makes me sad, my brother!p> <p class="poetry">This makes me sad, my sister!&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">They will not mourn for him, saying,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">&#8220;As surely as I am the living God, you, Jeconiah,<n id="2" /> king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, will not be the earthly representative of my authority. Indeed, I will take that right away from you.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime.p> <p class="poetry">For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of Davidp> <p class="poetry">or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.&#8221;p>

But at that time they will affirm them with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel<n id="1" /> from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished<n id="2" /> them.&#8221;<n id="3" /> At that time they will live in their own land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">So then I, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of sufferingp> <p class="poetry">and drink the poison water of judgment.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">that ungodliness<n id="5" /> has spread throughout the land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;What do you see, Jeremiah?&#8221; I answered, &#8220;I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.&#8221;p>

&#8220;I, the <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, say: &#8216;The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon<n id="1" /> are like those good figs. I consider them to be good.

I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I<n id="1" /> am the <sc>Lordsc>. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly<n id="2" /> return to me.&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, also solemnly assert: &#8216;King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem<n id="1" /> or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.<n id="2" />

&#8220;For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah<n id="1" /> until now, the <sc>Lordsc> has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again<n id="2" /> what he said.<n id="3" /> But you would not listen.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation<n id="1" /> for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon<n id="2" /> an everlasting ruin.<n id="3" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="4" />