But then you turned right around<n id="1" /> and showed that you did not honor me.<n id="2" /> Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies,p> <p class="poetry">who are seeking to kill them.p> <p class="poetry">I will vent my fierce angerp> <p class="poetry">and bring disaster upon them,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will send armies chasing after them<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">until I have completely destroyed them.p>

<p class="bodytext">The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>, as well as the movable stands and the large bronze basin called the &#8220;The Sea.&#8221;<n id="1" /> They took all the bronze to Babylon.

But suppose a nation or a kingdom will not be subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Suppose it will not submit to the yoke of servitude to<n id="1" /> him. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm that<n id="2" /> I will punish that nation. I will use the king of Babylon to punish it<n id="3" /> with war,<n id="4" /> starvation, and disease until I have destroyed it.<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">I brought you<n id="1" /> into a fertile landp> <p class="poetry">so you could enjoy<n id="2" /> its fruits and its rich bounty.p> <p class="poetry">But when you entered my land, you defiled it;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">you made the land I call my own<n id="4" /> loathsome to me.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Come back to me, my wayward sons,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;for I am your true master.<n id="1" /> If you do,<n id="2" /> I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

<p class="poetry">&#8220;A noise is heard on the hilltops.p> <p class="poetry">It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed they have followed sinful ways;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they have forgotten to be true to the <sc>Lordsc> their God.<n id="2" />p>

You must change<n id="1" /> the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Even the stork knowsp> <p class="poetry">when it is time to move on.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The turtledove, swallow, and crane<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">recognize<n id="3" /> the normal times for their migration.p> <p class="poetry">But my people pay no attentionp> <p class="poetry">to<n id="4" /> what I, the <sc>Lordsc>, require of them.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry"><v id="(9:1)" /> I wish I had a lodging place in the desertp> <p class="poetry">where I could spend some time like a weary traveler.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Then I would desert my peoplep> <p class="poetry">and walk away from themp> <p class="poetry">because they are all unfaithful to God,p> <p class="poetry">a congregation<n id="2" /> of people that has been disloyal to him.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will make Jerusalem<n id="2" /> a heap of ruins.p> <p class="poetry">Jackals will make their home there.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will destroy the towns of Judahp> <p class="poetry">so that no one will be able to live in them.&#8221;p>

I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors<n id="1" /> have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords<n id="2" /> until I have destroyed them.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Many foreign rulers<n id="1" /> will ruin the land where I planted my people.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They will trample all over my chosen land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will turn my beautiful landp> <p class="poetry">into a desolate wasteland.p>

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;You people have deserted me!p> <p class="poetry">You keep turning your back on me.&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So I have unleashed my power against you<n id="3" /> and have begun to destroy you.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">I have grown tired of feeling sorry for you!&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

Before I restore them<n id="1" /> I will punish them in full<n id="2" /> for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own<n id="3" /> with their detestable idols.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;So I will now let this wicked people know &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will let them know my mighty power in judgment.p> <p class="poetry">Then they will know that my name is the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day.<n id="1" /> But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the <sc>Lord,sc><n id="2" /> as I commanded your ancestors.<n id="3" />

Your ancestors,<n id="1" /> however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused<n id="2" /> to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.&#8217;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Pashhur son of Immer heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. He was the priest who was chief of security<n id="1" /> in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

When he heard Jeremiah&#8217;s prophecy, he had the prophet flogged.<n id="1" /> Then he put him in the stocks<n id="2" /> which were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="3" />