Do not give her archers time to string their bows or to put on their coats of armor. ¹  Do not spare any of her young men. Completely destroy ²  her whole army.

When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. ¹ 

“You should fear me!” says the Lord. “You should tremble in awe before me! ¹  I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it can never cross. Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail. They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.” ² 

But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’” ¹ 

I answered, ¹  “Who would listen if I spoke to them and warned them? ²  Their ears are so closed ³  that they cannot hear! Indeed, ⁴  what the Lord says is offensive to them. They do not like it at all. ⁵ 

The Lord is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. When he shows his anger the earth shakes. None of the nations can stand up to his fury.

The Lord says to the people of Judah, ¹  “What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? ²  Many of you have done wicked things. ³  Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings ⁴  that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them? ⁵ 

Show the Lord your God the respect that is due him. ¹  Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. ²  Do it before you stumble ³  into distress like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. ⁴  Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for into the darkness and gloom of exile. ⁵ 

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.

Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. ¹  They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level. ² 

Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some ¹  of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, “You deserve to die! ² 

“I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, ¹  and I give it to whomever I see fit. ² 

The city is sure to fall into the hands of the Babylonians. ¹  Yet, in spite of this, ²  you, Lord God, ³  have said to me, “Buy that field with silver and have the transaction legally witnessed.”’” ⁴ 

“You and your people ¹  are right in saying, ‘War, ²  starvation, and disease are sure to make this city fall into the hands of the king of Babylon.’ ³  But now I, the Lord God of Israel, have something further to say about this city: ⁴ 

But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone their own way. ¹ 

You must change ¹  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ² 

Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For he rescues the oppressed from the clutches of evildoers. ¹ 

The Lord says, ¹  “The leaders of my people are sure to be judged. ²  They were supposed to watch over my people like shepherds watch over their sheep. But they are causing my people to be destroyed and scattered. ³ 

Each of you should merely ask the prophet, ‘What answer did the Lord give you? Or what did the Lord say?’ ¹ 

King Zedekiah said to them, “Very well, you can do what you want with him. ¹  For I cannot do anything to stop you.” ²