<p class="poetry">When his voice thunders,<n id="1" /> the heavenly ocean roars.p> <p class="poetry">He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.p> <p class="poetry">He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Many foreign rulers<n id="1" /> will ruin the land where I planted my people.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They will trample all over my chosen land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will turn my beautiful landp> <p class="poetry">into a desolate wasteland.p>

<p class="poetry">Show the <sc>Lordsc> your God the respect that is due him.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Do it before you stumble<n id="3" /> into distressp> <p class="poetry">like a traveler on the mountains at twilight.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope forp> <p class="poetry">into the darkness and gloom of exile.<n id="5" />p>

I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them because of what Hezekiah&#8217;s son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will make you as strong as a wall to these people,p> <p class="poetry">a fortified wall of bronze.p> <p class="poetry">They will attack you,p> <p class="poetry">but they will not be able to overcome you.p> <p class="poetry">For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

When he heard Jeremiah&#8217;s prophecy, he had the prophet flogged.<n id="1" /> Then he put him in the stocks<n id="2" /> which were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But<n id="1" /> tell the people of Jerusalem<n id="2" /> that the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death.<n id="3" />

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say that<n id="1" /> I am determined not to deliver this city but to bring disaster on it.<n id="2" /> It will be handed over to the king of Babylon and he will destroy it with fire.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;Sure to be judged<n id="1" /> is the king who builds his palace using injusticep> <p class="poetry">and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing.p> <p class="poetry">He does not pay them for their labor.p>

I will hand you over to those who want to take your life and of whom you are afraid. I will hand you over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his Babylonian<n id="1" /> soldiers.

So<n id="1" /> I will carry you far off<n id="2" /> and throw you away. I will send both you and the city I gave to you and to your ancestors out of my sight.<n id="3" />

I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses.<n id="1" /> That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them.<n id="2" />

I will bring war, starvation, and disease<n id="1" /> on them until they are completely destroyed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

I made Jerusalem<n id="1" /> and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it.<n id="2" /> I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object<n id="3" /> of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses.<n id="4" /> Such is already becoming the case!<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">The sounds of battle<n id="1" /> will resound to the ends of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will bring charges against the nations.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He will pass judgment on all humankindp> <p class="poetry">and will hand the wicked over to be killed in war.&#8217;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> so affirms it!<n id="4" />p>

Tell them that the <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;You must obey me! You must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">However, Ahikam son of Shaphan<n id="1" /> used his influence to keep Jeremiah from being handed over and executed by the people.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">But<n id="1" /> all who destroyed you will be destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">All your enemies will go into exile.p> <p class="poetry">Those who plundered you will be plundered.p> <p class="poetry">I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;After I had given the copies of the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the <sc>Lordsc>,

You plan great things and you do mighty deeds.<n id="1" /> You see everything people do.<n id="2" /> You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do.<n id="3" />