So my anger and my wrath were poured out and burned like a fire through the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. That is why they have become the desolate ruins that they are today.’

The Lord says, “Watch out! ¹  The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. ² 

“Find Jeremiah ¹  and look out for him. ²  Do not do anything to harm him, ³  but do with him whatever he tells you.”

But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. ¹  Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed!

“If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord, “if you want to come back to me ¹  you must get those disgusting idols ²  out of my sight and must no longer go astray. ³ 

So ¹  I will carry you far off 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. ³ 

And I cried out, ¹  “We are doomed! ²  Our wound is severe! We once thought, ‘This is only an illness. And we will be able to bear it!’ ³ 

The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has fully carried out his intended purposes. In days to come you will come to understand this. ¹ 

A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work! A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction! ¹ 

What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger when he drove them out of his sight. ¹  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Lord says, ¹  “Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon! ²  You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth. I will unleash my power against you; ³  I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain. ⁴ 

For ¹  the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says, ‘If you go to Egypt, I will pour out my wrath on you just as I poured out my anger and wrath on the citizens of Jerusalem. ³  You will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. ⁴  You will never see this place again.’ ⁵ 

The Lord said, “Go stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. ¹  Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word!

So, watch out!” ¹  says the Lord. “The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley ²  the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room. ³ 

Then the Lord said to me, ¹  “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you.

So I, the Lord, say this: ¹  ‘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.

The Lord said, ¹  “Announce ²  this in Judah and proclaim it in Jerusalem: ³  ‘Sound the trumpet ⁴  throughout the land!’ Shout out loudly, ‘Gather together! Let us flee into the fortified cities!’

Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers! Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! ¹  The time for you to be slaughtered has come. You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery. ² 

Go ahead and ¹  charge into battle, you horsemen! Drive furiously, you charioteers! Let the soldiers march out into battle, those from Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields, and those from Lydia ²  who are armed with the bow. ³ 

But the time is coming when I will send men against Moab who will empty it out. They will empty the towns of their people, then will lay those towns in ruins. ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it! ²