For I, the Lord, say that ¹  I am determined not to deliver this city but to bring disaster on it. ²  It will be handed over to the king of Babylon and he will destroy it with fire.’” ³ 

Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession. ¹  You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the Lord says. ² 

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 ¹  soldiers.

“I, the Lord, promise ¹  that a new time will certainly come ²  when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ³  a descendant of David. He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ⁴  and will do what is just and right in the land. ⁵ 

This whole area ¹  will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.’ ² 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah ²  at the beginning of the reign ³  of Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah.

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah ¹  early in the reign of Josiah’s son, King Zedekiah of Judah. ² 

Things will go better for the nation that submits to the yoke of servitude to ¹  the king of Babylon and is subject to him. I will leave that nation ²  in its native land. Its people can continue to farm it and live in it. I, the Lord, affirm it!”’” ³ 

There is no reason why you and your people should die in war ¹  or from starvation or disease! ²  That’s what the Lord says will happen to any nation ³  that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve ¹  the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you.

Do not listen to them. Be subject to the king of Babylon. Then you ¹  will continue to live. Why should this city be made a pile of rubble?’” ² 

Indeed, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  has already spoken ²  about the valuable articles that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

And all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use them as examples when they put a curse on anyone. They will say, “May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom the king of Babylon roasted to death in the fire!” ¹ 

In the tenth year that Zedekiah was ruling over Judah the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. ¹  That was the same as the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

Therefore I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘I will indeed hand ²  this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army. ³  They will capture it.

could my covenant with my servant David and my covenant with the Levites ever be broken. So David will by all means always have a descendant to occupy his throne as king and the Levites will by all means always have priests who will minister before me. ¹ 

However, listen to what I, the Lord, promise you, King Zedekiah of Judah. I, the Lord, promise that ¹  you will not die in battle or be executed. ² 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim ¹  son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year ¹  that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² 

Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that ¹  the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?