<p class="poetry">I will punish the god Bel in Babylon.p> <p class="poetry">I will make him spit out what he has swallowed.p> <p class="poetry">The nations will not come streaming to him any longer.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskinp> <p class="poetry">as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,p> <p class="poetry">you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.p> <p class="poetry">If you do not,<n id="2" /> my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against youp> <p class="poetry">that no one will be able to extinguish.p> <p class="poetry">That will happen because of the evil you have done.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them.p> <p class="poetry">Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them.p> <p class="poetry">Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their citiesp> <p class="poetry">and totally destroy anyone who ventures out.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have rebelled so muchp> <p class="poetry">and done so many unfaithful things.<n id="2" />p>

From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now,<n id="1" /> I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again,<n id="2" /> day after day.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;When that time comes,<n id="1" /> the bones of the kings of Judah and its leaders, the bones of the priests and prophets and of all the other people who lived in Jerusalem will be dug up from their graves.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.p> <p class="poetry">Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They have become powerful in the land,p> <p class="poetry">but they have not done so by honest means.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, they do one evil thing after another<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and do not pay attention to me.<n id="5" />p>

Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors<n id="1" /> to keep<n id="2" /> when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace.<n id="3" /> I said at that time,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement<n id="5" /> exactly as I commanded you. If you do,<n id="6" /> you will be my people and I will be your God.<n id="7" />

<p class="poetry">If I go out into the countryside,p> <p class="poetry">I see those who have been killed in battle.p> <p class="poetry">If I go into the city,p> <p class="poetry">I see those who are sick because of starvation.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For both prophet and priest go about their own businessp> <p class="poetry">in the land without having any real understanding.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

If they ask you, &#8216;Where should we go?&#8217; tell them the <sc>Lordsc> says this:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease.p> <p class="poetry">Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war.p> <p class="poetry">Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation.p> <p class="poetry">Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Because of this, the <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;You must repent of such words and thoughts!p> <p class="poetry">If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless,p> <p class="poetry">I will again allow you to be my spokesman.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They must become as you have been.p> <p class="poetry">You must not become like them.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told me, &#8220;Go and stand in the People&#8217;s Gate<n id="2" /> through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem.<n id="3" />

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" />

<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>

<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 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>

But just listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> has to say about<n id="1" /> the king who occupies David&#8217;s throne and all your fellow countrymen who are still living in this city of Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and were not carried off into exile with you.

<p class="poetry">One of their own people will be their leader.p> <p class="poetry">Their ruler will come from their own number.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will invite him to approach me, and he will do so.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For no one would dare approach me on his own.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="4" />p>

It will not be like the old<n id="1" /> covenant that I made with their ancestors<n id="2" /> when I delivered them<n id="3" /> from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,&#8221;<n id="4" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="5" />

&#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;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease.<n id="1" /> Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians<n id="2" /> will live. They will escape with their lives.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />