I took both copies of the deed of purchase ¹  and gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. I gave them to him in the presence ²  of my cousin ³  Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and all the Judeans who were housed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

So I, the Lord, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. ¹  Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom ²  to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the Lord, affirm it! ³  I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you. ⁴ 

Then tell them, ¹  ‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says, “I will bring ³  my servant ⁴  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones which I ⁵  have buried. He will pitch his royal tent ⁶  over them.

But ¹  listen to what the Lord has to say, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. The Lord says, ‘I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, “As surely as the Lord God lives….” ² 

Because you did that, I, the Lord, affirm that ¹  a time is coming when I will make Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon, hear the sound of the battle cry. It will become a mound covered with ruins. ²  Its villages will be burned to the ground. ³  Then Israel will take back its land from those who took their land from them. I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴ 

Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught, so the people of Israel ¹  will suffer dishonor for what they have done. ²  So will their kings and officials, their priests and their prophets.

Even your clothes are stained with the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong; you did not catch them breaking into your homes. ¹  Yet, in spite of all these things you have done, ² 

Moreover, you will come away from Egypt with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame ¹  because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful and you will not gain any help from them. ² 

As you stand in those places ¹  announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says. ² 

Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. ¹  But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, ²  as I commanded your ancestors. ³ 

Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the Lord had sent him to give that prophecy. He went to the Lord’s temple and stood ¹  in its courtyard and called out to all the people.

I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to ¹  a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there.

I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says “The Lord’s message is burdensome.” ¹  I will punish both that person and his whole family.’” ² 

The Lord says, “The people of Israel who survived death at the hands of the enemy ¹  will find favor in the wilderness as they journey to find rest for themselves.

How long will you vacillate, ¹  you who were once like an unfaithful daughter? ²  For I, the Lord, promise ³  to bring about something new ⁴  on the earth, something as unique as a woman protecting a man!’” ⁵ 

“When that time comes, people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children’s teeth have grown numb.’ ¹ 

“Indeed a time is coming,” ¹  says the Lord, ²  “when the city of Jerusalem ³  will be rebuilt as my special city. ⁴  It will be built from the Tower of Hananel westward to the Corner Gate. ⁵ 

“I, Lord, make the following promise: ¹  ‘I have made a covenant with the day ²  and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people ³  could break that covenant

King Zedekiah sent ¹  Jehucal ²  son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah ³  son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. He told them to say, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf.”

At that time the Babylonian forces ¹  had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. ²  They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt. ³ )