Cursed be the man who made my father very glad when he brought him the news that a baby boy had been born to him! ¹ 

So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem. ¹ 

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 

Charge them to give their masters a message from me. Tell them, ‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says to give your masters this message. ² 

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.

But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah.

“Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says, ¹  ‘You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have ²  only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one! ³ 

He sent it with Elasah son of Shaphan ¹  and Gemariah son of Hilkiah. ²  King Zedekiah of Judah had sent these men to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. ³  The letter said:

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 

For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us, ¹  “You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.”’” ² 

“The Lord God of Israel says, ¹  ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. ² 

“After I had given the copies of the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord,

“The Lord God of Israel has a message for you. ¹  ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors ²  when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. ³  It stipulated, ⁴ 

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 

Then they asked Baruch, “How did you come to write all these words? Do they actually come from Jeremiah’s mouth?” ¹ 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after Jehoiakim had burned the scroll containing what Jeremiah had spoken and Baruch had written down. ¹ 

Moreover, I, the Lord, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonian forces ¹  will go away and leave you alone. For they will not go away. ² 

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