<t /><p class="bodytext">Some time later<n id="1" /> Zedekiah sent and had Jeremiah brought to him at the third entrance<n id="2" /> of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. The king said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I would like to ask you a question. Do not hide anything from me when you answer.&#8221;<n id="3" />

So King Zedekiah made a secret promise to Jeremiah and sealed it with an oath. He promised,<n id="1" /> &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who has given us life and breath,<n id="2" /> I promise you this: I will not kill you or hand you over to those men who want to kill you.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel,<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;You must surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon. If you do, your life will be spared<n id="2" /> and this city will not be burned down. Indeed, you and your whole family will be spared.

&#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" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah<n id="1" /> after Nebuzaradan the captain of the royal guard had set him free at Ramah.<n id="2" /> He had taken him there in chains<n id="3" /> along with all the people from Jerusalem<n id="4" /> and Judah who were being carried off to exile to Babylon.

They said to him, &#8220;Please grant our request<n id="1" /> and pray to the <sc>Lordsc> your God for all those of us who are still left alive here.<n id="2" /> For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before.<n id="3" />

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear.<n id="1" /> Do not be afraid of him because I will be with you to save you and to rescue you from his power. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />

Then Azariah<n id="1" /> son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and other arrogant men said to Jeremiah, &#8220;You are telling a lie! The <sc>Lordsc> our God did not send you to tell us, &#8216;You must not go to Egypt and settle there.&#8217;

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.

&#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">&#8220;So now the <sc>Lordsc>, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel,<n id="1" /> asks, &#8216;Why will you do such great harm to yourselves? Why should every man, woman, child, and baby of yours be destroyed from the midst of Judah? Why should you leave yourselves without a remnant?

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> did indeed remember and call to mind what you did! He remembered the sacrifices you and your ancestors, your kings, your leaders, and all the rest of the people of the land offered to other gods<n id="1" /> in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.<n id="2" />

Finally the <sc>Lordsc> could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses.<n id="1" />

Moreover the <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will make something happen to prove that I will punish you in this place. I will do it so that you will know that my threats to bring disaster on you will prove true.<n id="2" />

I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise that<n id="1" /> I will hand Pharaoh Hophra<n id="2" /> king of Egypt over to his enemies who are seeking to kill him. I will do that just as surely as I handed King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking to kill him.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Tell Baruch,<n id="2" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I am about to tear down what I have built and to uproot what I have planted. I will do this throughout the whole earth.<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">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>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will be like an overflowing stream.p> <p class="poetry">They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood.p> <p class="poetry">They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants.p> <p class="poetry">People will cry out in alarm.p> <p class="poetry">Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain.p>

<p class="poetry">For the time has comep> <p class="poetry">to destroy all the Philistines.p> <p class="poetry">The time has come to destroy all the helpp> <p class="poetry">that remains for Tyre<n id="1" /> and Sidon.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, will<n id="3" /> destroy the Philistines,p> <p class="poetry">that remnant that came from the island of Crete.<n id="4" />p>