<p class="bodytext">Therefore the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will now purify them in the fires of affliction<n id="2" /> and test them.p> <p class="poetry">The wickedness of my dear people<n id="3" /> has left me no choice.p> <p class="poetry">What else can I do?<n id="4" />p>

So then, listen to what I, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all,<n id="1" /> say.<n id="2" /> &#8216;I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.<n id="3" />

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say this:<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will soon bring disaster on them which they will not be able to escape! When they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them.

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> told me about<n id="1" /> some men from Anathoth<n id="2" /> who were threatening to kill me.<n id="3" /> They had threatened,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Stop prophesying in the name of the <sc>Lordsc> or we will kill you!&#8221;<n id="5" />

So the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;I will surely<n id="2" /> punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle.<n id="3" /> Their sons and daughters will die of starvation.

<p class="bodytext">Yet<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="2" /> &#8220;A new time will certainly come.<n id="3" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8217;

<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>

<p class="bodytext">Therefore, the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Ask the people of other nationsp> <p class="poetry">whether they have heard of anything like this.p> <p class="poetry">Israel should have been like a virgin.p> <p class="poetry">But she has done something utterly revolting!p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;A new time will certainly come.<n id="2" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery.p> <p class="poetry">They will stumble and fall headlong.p> <p class="poetry">For I will bring disaster on them.p> <p class="poetry">A day of reckoning is coming for them.&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> affirms it!<n id="2" />p>

So<n id="1" /> I will carry you far off<n id="2" /> and throw you away. I will send both you and the city I gave to you and to your ancestors out of my sight.<n id="3" />

So the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I will most assuredly remove<n id="1" /> you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counseled rebellion against the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">But<n id="1" /> all who destroyed you will be destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">All your enemies will go into exile.p> <p class="poetry">Those who plundered you will be plundered.p> <p class="poetry">I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged.<n id="2" />p>

Therefore I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will indeed hand<n id="2" /> this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army.<n id="3" /> They will capture it.

So the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8216;Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a male descendant to serve me.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Because of this, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8216;I am determined to bring disaster on you,<n id="1" /> even to the point of destroying all the Judeans here.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">But the time is coming when I will sendp> <p class="poetry">men against Moab who will empty it out.p> <p class="poetry">They will empty the towns of their people,p> <p class="poetry">then will lay those towns in ruins.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For her young men will fall in her city squares.p> <p class="poetry">All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore desert creatures and jackals will live there.p> <p class="poetry">Ostriches<n id="1" /> will dwell in it too.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But no people will ever live there again.p> <p class="poetry">No one will dwell there for all time to come.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will stand up for your cause.p> <p class="poetry">I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will dry up their sea.p> <p class="poetry">I will make their springs run dry.<n id="2" />p>