None of the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. Though they long to return and live there, none of them shall return except a few fugitives.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then all the men who were aware that their wives were sacrificing to other gods, as well as all their wives, answered Jeremiah. There was a great crowd of them representing all the people who lived in northern and southern Egypt.<n id="1" /> They answered,

You have sacrificed to other gods! You have sinned against the <sc>Lordsc>! You have not obeyed the <sc>Lordsc>! You have not followed his laws, his statutes, and his decrees! That is why this disaster that is evident to this day has happened to you.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah while he was writing down in a scroll the words that Jeremiah spoke to him.<n id="1" /> This happened in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.<n id="2" />

Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for such things. For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that I am about to bring disaster on all humanity.<n id="2" /> But I will allow you to escape with your life<n id="3" /> wherever you go.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="poetry">&#8220;You descendants of Jacob, my servants,<n id="2" /> do not be afraid;p> <p class="poetry">do not be terrified, people of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">For I will rescue you and your descendantsp> <p class="poetry">from the faraway lands where you are captives.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.p> <p class="poetry">They will be secure and no one will terrify them.p>

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell<n id="1" /> you not to be afraid,p> <p class="poetry">you descendants of Jacob, my servant,p> <p class="poetry">for I am with you.p> <p class="poetry">Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you,p> <p class="poetry">I will not completely destroy you.p> <p class="poetry">I will indeed discipline you but only in due measure.p> <p class="poetry">I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke about the Ammonites.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining?p> <p class="poetry">Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land?p> <p class="poetry">Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities?<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Because you did that,p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm that<n id="1" /> a time is comingp> <p class="poetry">when I will make Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon,p> <p class="poetry">hear the sound of the battle cry.p> <p class="poetry">It will become a mound covered with ruins.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Its villages will be burned to the ground.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then Israel will take back its landp> <p class="poetry">from those who took their land from them.p> <p class="poetry">I, the Lord, affirm it!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The terror you inspire in others<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and the arrogance of your heart have deceived you.p> <p class="poetry">You may make your home in the clefts of the rocks;p> <p class="poetry">you may occupy the highest places in the hills.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But even if you made your home where the eagles nest,p> <p class="poetry">I would bring you down from there,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke about Kedar<n id="1" /> and the kingdoms of Hazor<n id="2" /> that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Army of Babylon,<n id="3" /> go and attack Kedar.p> <p class="poetry">Lay waste those who live in the eastern desert.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">For a nation from the north<n id="1" /> will attack Babylon.p> <p class="poetry">It will lay her land waste.p> <p class="poetry">People and animals will flee out of it.p> <p class="poetry">No one will inhabit it.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;When that time comes,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together.p> <p class="poetry">They will come back with tears of repentancep> <p class="poetry">as they seek the <sc>Lordsc> their God.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Sharpen<n id="1" /> your arrows!p> <p class="poetry">Fill your quivers!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will arouse a spirit of hostility in<n id="3" /> the kings of Media.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For he intends to destroy Babylonia.p> <p class="poetry">For that is how the <sc>Lordsc> will get his revenge &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians&#8217; destruction of his temple.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Give the signal to attack Babylon&#8217;s wall!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Bring more guards!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Post them all around the city!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Put men in ambush!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will do what he has planned.p> <p class="poetry">He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign.<n id="1" /> (Seraiah was a quartermaster.)<n id="2" />

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm that<n id="1" /> I will send for all the peoples of the north<n id="2" /> and my servant,<n id="3" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy<n id="4" /> this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it<n id="5" /> and make them everlasting ruins.<n id="6" /> I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn.<n id="7" />

Now it happened just as the <sc>Lordsc> had said! My cousin Hanamel<n id="1" /> came to me in the courtyard of the guardhouse. He said to me, &#8216;Buy my field which is at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. Buy it for yourself since you are entitled as my closest relative to take possession of it for yourself.&#8217; When this happened, I recognized that the <sc>Lordsc> had indeed spoken to me.

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say: &#8220;You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman.<n id="1" /> Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom<n id="2" /> to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" /> I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you.<n id="4" />

So I, the <sc>Lord,sc> the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, say:<n id="1" /> &#8220;I will soon bring on Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem all the disaster that I threatened to bring on them. I will do this because I spoke to them but they did not listen. I called out to them but they did not answer.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>