and she said to them: &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says: &#8216;Say this to the man who sent you to me:

Zerah the Cushite marched against them with an army of 1,000,000<n id="1" /> men and 300 chariots. He arrived at Mareshah,

<p class="bodytext">In those days the aristocrats of Judah repeatedly sent letters to Tobiah, and responses from Tobiah were repeatedly coming to them.

<p class="bodytext">So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did just as the <sc>Lordsc> had told them; and the <sc>Lordsc> had respect for Job.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Your officials are rebels,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they associate with<n id="2" /> thieves.p> <p class="poetry">All of them love bribery,p> <p class="poetry">and look for<n id="3" /> payoffs.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">They do not take up the cause of the orphan,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">or defend the rights of the widow.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But you, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> get yourself ready!<n id="2" /> Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them.<n id="3" />

Israel was set apart to the <sc>Lordsc>; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him.<n id="1" /> All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;p>

So tell them: &#8216;This is a nation that has not obeyed the <sc>Lordsc> their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore.<n id="1" />

Tell them that the <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, says, &#8216;Anyone who does not keep the terms of the covenant will be under a curse.<n id="1" />

As you stand in those places<n id="1" /> announce, &#8216;Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">So I took the cup from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath.<n id="1" />

If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, tell them that the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says<n id="1" /> &#8216;You most certainly must drink it!<n id="2" />

Tell them that the <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;You must obey me! You must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws.<n id="2" />

Do not listen to them. Be subject to the king of Babylon. Then you<n id="1" /> will continue to live. Why should this city be made a pile of rubble?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

Then I set cups and pitchers full of wine in front of the members of the Rechabite community and said to them, &#8220;Have some wine.&#8221;<n id="1" />

The king did not even listen to Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah, who had urged him not to burn the scroll.<n id="1" />

If they do this, tell<n id="1" /> them, &#8216;I was pleading with the king not to send me back to die in the dungeon of Jonathan&#8217;s house.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

Then Jeremiah said to them, &#8220;You sent me to the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel to make your request known to him. Here is what he says to you:<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">He said to them, &#8220;Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!&#8221; So they went out and struck people down throughout the city.

Say to them, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> and all the house of Israel within it.&#8217;<n id="2" />