“How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to ¹  the gods called Baal.’ Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! ²  Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. ³ 

I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares….’ ² 

“I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me. ¹ 

“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.”

The Lord who rules over all said, “I will kill all the archers of Elam, who are the chief source of her military might. ¹ 

The Lord says, “I will cause a destructive wind ¹  to blow against ²  Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia. ³ 

But now, Jeremiah, today I will set you free ¹  from the chains on your wrists. If you would like to come to Babylon with me, come along and I will take care of you. ²  But if you prefer not to come to Babylon with me, you are not required to do so. ³  You are free to go anywhere in the land you want to go. ⁴  Go wherever you choose.” ⁵ 

I answered, ¹  “Who would listen if I spoke to them and warned them? ²  Their ears are so closed ³  that they cannot hear! Indeed, ⁴  what the Lord says is offensive to them. They do not like it at all. ⁵ 

“‘But just look at you! ¹  You are putting your confidence in a false belief ²  that will not deliver you. ³ 

The Lord says to Edom, ¹  “I will certainly make you small among nations. I will make you despised by all humankind.

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me. ¹ 

So, this is what the Lord says: ‘I will assuredly ¹  make these people stumble to their doom. ²  Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. ³  Friends and neighbors will die.’

And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. ¹ 

But just watch! ¹  The wrath of the Lord will come like a storm! ²  Like a raging storm it will rage down ³  on the heads of those who are wicked.

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says, ‘Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. ²  A mighty storm of military destruction ³  is rising up from the distant parts of the earth.’

Just watch! The wrath of the Lord will come like a storm. Like a raging storm it will rage down on the heads of those who are wicked.

But I will most surely ¹  heal the wounds of this city and restore it and its people to health. ²  I will show them abundant ³  peace and security.

Therefore the Lord says, “I will stand up for your cause. I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you. ¹  I will dry up their sea. I will make their springs run dry. ² 

You people of this generation, listen to what the Lord says. “Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel? Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? ¹  Why then do you ²  say, ‘We are free to wander. ³  We will not come to you any more?’

The Lord said to his people: ¹  “You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ²  Ask where the old, reliable paths ³  are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ⁴  and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls.” But they said, “We will not follow it!”