<p class="bodytext">I also told the priests and all the people, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that<n id="1" /> the valuable articles taken from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon.<n id="2" /> But they are prophesying a lie to you.

Because he has done this,&#8221;<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. There will not be any of them left to experience the good things that I will do for my people. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it! For he counseled rebellion against the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Once again there will be sounds<n id="1" /> of joy and gladness and the glad celebrations of brides and grooms.<n id="2" /> Once again people will bring their thank offerings to the temple of the <sc>Lordsc> and will say, &#8220;Give thanks to the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all. For the <sc>Lordsc> is good and his unfailing love lasts forever.&#8221;<n id="3" /> For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="4" /> that I will restore the land to what it was<n id="5" /> in days of old.&#8217;<n id="6" />p>

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say: &#8220;You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman.<n id="1" /> Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom<n id="2" /> to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" /> I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you.<n id="4" />

So I, the <sc>Lord,sc> the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, say:<n id="1" /> &#8220;I will soon bring on Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem all the disaster that I threatened to bring on them. I will do this because I spoke to them but they did not listen. I called out to them but they did not answer.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>

For<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says, &#8216;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.<n id="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.<n id="4" /> You will never see this place again.&#8217;<n id="5" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8216;You women<n id="1" /> have confirmed by your actions what you vowed with your lips! You said, &#8220;We will certainly carry out our vows to sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.&#8221; Well, then fulfill your vows! Carry them out!&#8217;<n id="2" />

Therefore speak to them and say to them, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the <sc>Lordsc> am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry.<n id="1" />

and say to the scrub land of the Negev, &#8216;Hear the word of the <sc>Lordsc>: This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Look here,<n id="1" /> I am about to start a fire in you,<n id="2" /> and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The flaming fire will not be extinguished, and the whole surface of the ground from the Negev to the north will be scorched by it.

They replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;A man came up to meet us. He told us, &#8220;Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron.<n id="2" /> Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;