The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you ¹  and carry them out!

The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah say these things in the Lord’s temple.

The Lord continued, ¹  “Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you.

You have been the object of Israel’s hopes. You have saved them when they were in trouble. Why have you become like a resident foreigner ¹  in the land? Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?

How can you men of Moab say, ‘We are heroes, men who are mighty in battle?’

Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their ¹  wives, by you and your wives?

The prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah while he was writing down in a scroll the words that Jeremiah spoke to him. ¹  This happened in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² 

I also told them, ¹  “If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, ²  let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. ³  Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away ⁴  to Babylon.

The Lord spoke ¹  to Jeremiah a second time while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse. ² 

We have lived in tents. We have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab and done exactly as he commanded us. ¹ 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year ¹  that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² 

¹ Now the Lord had spoken to Jeremiah while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse, ² 

But ¹  listen to what the Lord has to say, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. The Lord says, ‘I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, “As surely as the Lord God lives….” ² 

People of Jerusalem, ¹  go up to Lebanon and cry out in mourning. Go to the land of Bashan and cry out loudly. Cry out in mourning from the mountains of Moab. ²  For your allies ³  have all been defeated.

Turn and flee! Take up refuge in remote places, ¹  you people who live in Dedan. ²  For I will bring disaster on the descendants of Esau. I have decided it is time for me to punish them. ³ 

Fields will again be bought with silver, and deeds of purchase signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, the towns in Judah, the southern hill country, the western foothills, and southern Judah. ¹  For I will restore them to their land. ²  I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ³ 

From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king’s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens ¹  for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city.

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah ¹  early in the reign of Josiah’s son, King Zedekiah of Judah. ² 

“The Lord God of Israel says, ¹  ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. ² 

They set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own ¹  and defiled it.