Then some of the elders of Judah ¹  stepped forward and spoke to all the people gathered there. They said,

But listen to what I say to you and to all these people. ¹ 

‘So pay attention to what I, the Lord, have said, ¹  all you exiles whom I have sent to Babylon from Jerusalem.’

The descendants of Jacob will enjoy their former privileges. Their community will be reestablished in my favor ¹  and I will punish all who try to oppress them.

Rather, each person will die for his own sins. The teeth of the person who eats the sour grapes will themselves grow numb. ¹ 

The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.

Micaiah, who was the son of Gemariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll everything the Lord had said. ¹ 

on Kerioth and Bozrah. It will come on all the towns of Moab, both far and near.

Babylon hammered the whole world to pieces. But see how that ‘hammer’ has been broken and shattered! ¹  See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations!

Kill all her soldiers! ¹  Let them be slaughtered! ²  They are doomed, ³  for their day of reckoning ⁴  has come, the time for them to be punished.”

You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ¹ 

“See how Babylon ¹  has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations! ² 

“Babylon must fall ¹  because of the Israelites she has killed, ²  just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell because of Babylon. ³ 

Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, make sure ¹  you read aloud all these prophecies. ² 

There were ninety-six pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it.

Jehoiachin ¹  took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.

For I will soon summon all the peoples of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord. “They will come and their kings will set up their thrones ¹  near the entrances of the gates of Jerusalem. ²  They will attack all the walls surrounding it, and all the towns in Judah. ³ 

“Indeed, ¹  long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. ²  You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ ³  Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. ⁴ 

When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. ¹  You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. ² 

That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. ¹  I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. ²  Moreover, none of the people of Israel ³  are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.” ⁴