The captain of the royal guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster.

But the people of Jerusalem and Judah ¹  would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods. ² 

The Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about Nebuchadnezzar coming to attack the land of Egypt. ¹ 

The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia ¹  through the prophet Jeremiah. ² 

“So then, Jeremiah, ¹  when your people ²  ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ tell them, ‘It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So ³  you must serve foreigners ⁴  in a land that does not belong to you.’

But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’” ¹ 

The Lord showed me two baskets of figs sitting before his temple. This happened after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deported Jehoiakim’s son, King Jeconiah of Judah. He deported him and the leaders of Judah, along with the craftsmen and metal workers, and took them to Babylon. ¹ 

The Lord ¹  began to speak to him ²  in the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon ruled over Judah.

“Before I formed you in your mother’s womb ¹  I chose you. ²  Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him; they raise their voices in triumph. ¹  They have laid his land waste; his cities have been burned down and deserted. ² 

Consider this: ¹  When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not merely give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices.

For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. ¹  I warned them again and again, ²  ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day.

Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to Perath and get ¹  the shorts I ordered you to bury there.”

Then I said, ¹  “Look up, Jerusalem, ²  and see the enemy ³  that is coming from the north. Where now is the flock of people that were entrusted to your care? ⁴  Where now are the ‘sheep’ that you take such pride in? ⁵ 

When he heard Jeremiah’s prophecy, he had the prophet flogged. ¹  Then he put him in the stocks ²  which were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin in the Lord’s temple. ³ 

How long will they go on plotting ¹  to make my people forget who I am ²  through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors ³  did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. ⁴ 

So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath. ¹ 

You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. ¹  But you have not paid any attention to them.

However, Ahikam son of Shaphan ¹  used his influence to keep Jeremiah from being handed over and executed by the people. ² 

From earliest times, the prophets who preceded you and me invariably ¹  prophesied war, disaster, ²  and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms.