This will happen because ¹  the people of this city have aroused my anger and my wrath since the time they built it until now. ²  They have made me so angry that I am determined to remove ³  it from my sight.

“Get a scroll. ¹  Write on it everything I have told you to say ²  about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now. 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 

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. ¹  They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah. ² 

So I, the Lord, affirm that ¹  I will send for all the peoples of the north ²  and my servant, ³  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy ⁴  this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it ⁵  and make them everlasting ruins. ⁶  I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn. ⁷ 

Because he has done this,” ¹  the Lord says, “I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. There will not be any of them left to experience the good things that I will do for my people. I, the Lord, affirm it! For he counseled rebellion against the Lord.”’” ² 

Then the Lord said, “You have observed correctly. This means ¹  I am watching to make sure my threats are carried out.” ² 

Then the Lord said, “This means ¹  destruction will break out from the north on all who live in the land.

Be amazed at this, O heavens! ¹  Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded,” says the Lord.

Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him; they raise their voices in triumph. ¹  They have laid his land waste; his cities have been burned down and deserted. ² 

They will surround Jerusalem ¹  like men guarding a field ²  because they have rebelled against me,” says the Lord.

Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, ¹  their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. ²  That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful. ³ 

Kings will come against it with their armies. ¹  They will encamp in siege all around it. ²  Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him. ³ 

They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. ¹  They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’ But everything is not all right! ² 

The Lord said, ¹  “I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, ²  saying: ‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!’” ³  But they said, “We will not pay attention!”

“‘But just look at you! ¹  You are putting your confidence in a false belief ²  that will not deliver you. ³ 

The Lord said to the people of Judah, ¹  “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! ³ 

They offer only superficial help for the hurt my dear people ¹  have suffered. ²  They say, “Everything will be all right!” But everything is not all right! ³ 

I said, “Indeed, ¹  let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us. Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes and our eyelids overflow with water.

The Lord says, “Watch out! ¹  The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. ²