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.

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise: &#8220;David will never lack a successor to occupy<n id="1" /> the throne over the nation of Israel.<n id="2" />

&#8220;I, <sc>Lordsc>, make the following promise:<n id="1" /> &#8216;I have made a covenant with the day<n id="2" /> and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people<n id="3" /> could break that covenant

But I, the <sc>Lordsc>, make the following promise:<n id="1" /> I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth.

However, listen to what I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise you, King Zedekiah of Judah. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise that<n id="1" /> you will not die in battle or be executed.<n id="2" />

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel has a message for you.<n id="1" /> &#8216;I made a covenant with your ancestors<n id="2" /> when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves.<n id="3" /> It stipulated,<n id="4" />

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>

Moreover, I, the <sc>Lordsc>, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonian forces<n id="1" /> will go away and leave you alone. For they will not go away.<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">&#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" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> spoke about Moab.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Sure to be judged is Nebo! Indeed,<n id="3" /> it will be destroyed!p> <p class="poetry">Kiriathaim<n id="4" /> will suffer disgrace. It will be captured!p> <p class="poetry">Its fortress<n id="5" /> will suffer disgrace. It will be torn down!<n id="6" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> spoke about Edom.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Is wisdom no longer to be found in Teman?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Can Edom&#8217;s counselors not give her any good advice?<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Has all of their wisdom turned bad?<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The people of Israel are oppressed.p> <p class="poetry">So too are the people of Judah.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners.p> <p class="poetry">They refuse to set them free.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will cause a destructive wind<n id="1" /> to blowp> <p class="poetry">against<n id="2" /> Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia.<n id="3" />p>

<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">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>

&#8220;Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;I have fond memories of you,<n id="2" /> how devoted you were to me in your early years.<n id="3" /> I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

<p class="bodytext">Because of that,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, the God who rules over all,<n id="2" /> said to me,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Because these people have spoken<n id="4" /> like this,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire.p> <p class="poetry">And I will make this people like woodp> <p class="poetry">which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to his people:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Ask where the old, reliable paths<n id="3" /> are.p> <p class="poetry">Ask where the path is that leads to blessing<n id="4" /> and follow it.p> <p class="poetry">If you do, you will find rest for your souls.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">But they said, &#8220;We will not follow it!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">So, this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will assuredly<n id="1" /> make these people stumble to their doom.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Friends and neighbors will die.&#8217;p>