“I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say: ‘The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon ¹  are like those good figs. I consider them to be good.

Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. ¹  But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. ² 

One friend deceives another and no one tells the truth. These people have trained themselves ¹  to tell lies. They do wrong and are unable to repent.

If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, tell them that the Lord who rules over all says ¹  ‘You most certainly must drink it! ² 

“Because of this, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘I am determined to bring disaster on you, ¹  even to the point of destroying all the Judeans here. ² 

“Moab has vaunted itself against me. So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath ¹  until he splashes ²  around in his own vomit, until others treat him as a laughingstock.

“I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem ¹  or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. ² 

Do any of the worthless idols ¹  of the nations cause rain to fall? Do the skies themselves send showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ²  So we put our hopes in you ³  because you alone do all this.”

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  told him, “Go and speak to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them, ²  ‘I, the Lord, say: ³  “You must learn a lesson from this ⁴  about obeying what I say! ⁵ 

“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, he may not take her back again. ¹  Doing that would utterly defile the land. ²  But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. ³  So what makes you think you can return to me?” ⁴  says the Lord.

“So then, Jeremiah, ¹  when your people ²  ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ tell them, ‘It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So ³  you must serve foreigners ⁴  in a land that does not belong to you.’

Can people make their own gods? No, what they make are not gods at all.” ¹ 

The terror you inspire in others ¹  and the arrogance of your heart have deceived you. You may make your home in the clefts of the rocks; you may occupy the highest places in the hills. ²  But even if you made your home where the eagles nest, I would bring you down from there,” says the Lord.

The sea has swept over Babylon. She has been covered by a multitude ¹  of its waves. ² 

The Lord said to me, ¹  “Tell them, ‘The Lord says, Do people not get back up when they fall down? Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way? ² 

Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. ¹ 

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.

When they had heard it all, ¹  they expressed their alarm to one another. ²  Then they said to Baruch, “We must certainly give the king a report about everything you have read!” ³ 

“Why do you try to refute me? ¹  All of you have rebelled against me,” says the Lord.

Listen, you ¹  who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau. I am opposed to you,’ ²  says the Lord. ³  ‘You boast, “No one can swoop down on us. No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.” ⁴