“For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, ‘Do not let the prophets or those among you who claim to be able to predict the future by divination ²  deceive you. And do not pay any attention to the dreams that you are encouraging them to dream.

This will happen because the people of Israel and Judah have repeatedly done what displeases me ¹  from their earliest history until now ²  and because they ³  have repeatedly made me angry by the things they have done. ⁴  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁵ 

“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 ¹  about Damascus. ²  “The people of Hamath and Arpad ³  will be dismayed because they have heard bad news. Their courage will melt away because of worry. Their hearts will not be able to rest. ⁴ 

But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people. ¹  Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal. ²  But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I swear.” ³  If they do these things, ⁴  then they will be included among the people I call my own. ⁵ 

“Micah from Moresheth ¹  prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. ²  He told all the people of Judah, ‘The Lord who rules over all ³  says, “Zion ⁴  will become a plowed field. Jerusalem ⁵  will become a pile of rubble. The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’ ⁶ 

Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, ¹  “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, ²  “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” ³ 

“Raise up battle flags throughout the lands. Sound the trumpets calling the nations to do battle. Prepare the nations to do battle against Babylonia. ¹  Call for these kingdoms to attack her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. ²  Appoint a commander to lead the attack. ³  Send horses ⁴  against her like a swarm of locusts. ⁵ 

They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ¹  (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. ¹  Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful ²  it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, ³  to show no respect for me,” ⁴  says the Lord God who rules over all. ⁵ 

O royal family descended from David. ¹  The Lord says: ‘See to it that people each day ²  are judged fairly. ³  Deliver those who have been robbed from those ⁴  who oppress them. Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you. It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out because of the evil that you have done. ⁵ 

This is what the Lord who rules over all ¹  says, “Babylon’s thick wall ²  will be completely demolished. ³  Her high gates will be set on fire. The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. ⁴  The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.” ⁵ 

The Lord answered, “This has happened because these people have rejected my laws which I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws. ¹ 

For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. ¹  I warned them again and again, ²  ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day.

Not one of them will survive. ¹  I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you. ²  A day of reckoning is coming for them.” ³ 

But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! ¹  We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” ² 

Lord, you coerced me into being a prophet, and I allowed you to do it. You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. ¹  Now I have become a constant laughingstock. Everyone ridicules me.

Yes, a time is coming when watchmen ¹  will call out on the mountains of Ephraim, “Come! Let us go to Zion to worship the Lord our God!”’” ² 

“I, Lord, make the following promise: ¹  ‘I have made a covenant with the day ²  and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people ³  could break that covenant

There at Riblah the king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon also had all the nobles of Judah put to death.