<p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Fair Babylon<n id="1" /> will be like a threshing floorp> <p class="poetry">which has been trampled flat for harvest.p> <p class="poetry">The time for her to be cut down and harvestedp> <p class="poetry">will come very soon.&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">You people of this generation,p> <p class="poetry">listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?p> <p class="poetry">Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Why then do you<n id="2" /> say, &#8216;We are free to wander.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">We will not come to you any more?&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">When Josiah was king of Judah, the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done.<n id="1" /> You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.<n id="2" />

She also saw<n id="1" /> that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods.<n id="2" /> Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this,<n id="3" /> she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods.<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north.<n id="1" /> Tell them,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Come back to me, wayward Israel,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will not continue to look on you with displeasure.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For I am merciful,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will not be angry with you forever.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Listen,<n id="2" /> nation of Israel!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you.p> <p class="poetry">It will be a nation that was founded long agop> <p class="poetry">and has lasted for a long time.p> <p class="poetry">It will be a nation whose language you will not know.p> <p class="poetry">Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.p>

So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped<n id="1" /> in the early days. See what I did to it<n id="2" /> because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples.<n id="1" /> I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sight.<n id="2" /> Moreover, none of the people of Israel<n id="3" /> are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

They have gone back to the evil ways<n id="1" /> of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to<n id="2" /> other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah<n id="3" /> have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors.

<p class="poetry">For though I, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" /> planted you in the land,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I now decree that disaster will come on you<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evilp> <p class="poetry">and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, also have something to say concerning<n id="1" /> the wicked nations who surround my land<n id="2" /> and have attacked and plundered<n id="3" /> the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession.<n id="4" /> I say: &#8216;I will uproot the people of those nations from their lands and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there.<n id="5" />

For,&#8217; I say,<n id="1" /> &#8216;just as shorts cling tightly to a person&#8217;s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah<n id="2" /> tightly<n id="3" /> to me.&#8217; I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise.<n id="4" /> But they would not obey me.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So tell them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, says, &#8220;Every wine jar is made to be filled with wine.&#8221;&#8217;<n id="2" /> And they will probably say to you, &#8216;Do you not think we know<n id="3" /> that every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine?&#8217;

For I, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all, tell you what will happen.<n id="1" /> I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

But in that time they will affirm them with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.&#8217; At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Say, &#8216;Listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem!<n id="1" /> The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says, &#8220;I will bring a disaster on this place<n id="3" /> that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring!<n id="4" />

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it<n id="2" /> all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused<n id="3" /> to pay any attention to what I have said!&#8217;&#8221;p>

So the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: &#8220;You have caused my people<n id="1" /> to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done.<n id="2" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" />

But at that time they will affirm them with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel<n id="1" /> from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished<n id="2" /> them.&#8221;<n id="3" /> At that time they will live in their own land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

&#8220;I, the <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, say: &#8216;The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon<n id="1" /> are like those good figs. I consider them to be good.