However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all. ² 

I said, ¹  “Lord, you know how I suffer. ²  Take thought of me and care for me. Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me. Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me. Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.

The Lord says, ¹  ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day.

While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. ¹  But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.” That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. ²  Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.

However, some of the officials ¹  of Judah heard about what was happening ²  and they rushed up to the Lord’s temple from the royal palace. They set up court ³  at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s temple. ⁴ 

So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs. ¹ 

“From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed. It has never been taken into exile. Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs, never poured out from one jar to another. They are like wine which tastes like it always did, whose aroma has remained unchanged. ¹ 

Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. ¹  Flee to save your lives. Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins. For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge. He will pay Babylonia ²  back for what she has done. ³ 

Then the Lord said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! ¹  I did not send them. I did not commission them. ²  I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, ³  and the delusions of their own mind.

that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ¹  ‘The forces at your disposal ²  are now outside the walls fighting against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians ³  who have you under siege. I will gather those forces back inside the city. ⁴ 

“The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  also has something to say about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so. ²  ‘I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will execute them before your very eyes.

Everyone must be on his guard around his friends. He must not even trust any of his relatives. ¹  For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ²  And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

But just watch! ¹  The wrath of the Lord will come like a storm! ²  Like a raging storm it will rage down ³  on the heads of those who are wicked.

Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved. ¹ 

“Take up your battle positions all around Babylon, all you soldiers who are armed with bows. ¹  Shoot ²  all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! ³  For she has sinned against the Lord.

“Babylon, ¹  you are my war club, ²  my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. ³  I used you to destroy kingdoms.

Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah there at Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah before anyone knows about it. Otherwise he will kill you ¹  and all the Judeans who have rallied around you will be scattered. Then what remains of Judah will disappear.”

Why should you be like someone who is helpless, ¹  like a champion ²  who cannot save anyone? You are indeed with us, ³  and we belong to you. ⁴  Do not abandon us!”

Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain! ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it! ² 

When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all, ²  “I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ³  I will deliver you from captivity. ⁴  Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.