When they had heard it all,<n id="1" /> they expressed their alarm to one another.<n id="2" /> Then they said to Baruch, &#8220;We must certainly give the king a report about everything you have read!&#8221;<n id="3" />

As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns<n id="1" /> of the scroll, the king<n id="2" /> would cut them off with a penknife<n id="3" /> and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire.<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">King Zedekiah sent<n id="1" /> Jehucal<n id="2" /> son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah<n id="3" /> son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. He told them to say, &#8220;Please pray to the <sc>Lordsc> our God on our behalf.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel,<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;You must surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon. If you do, your life will be spared<n id="2" /> and this city will not be burned down. Indeed, you and your whole family will be spared.

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians.<n id="1" /> The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.&#8221;<n id="2" />

The officials may hear that I have talked with you. They may come to you and say, &#8216;Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you.<n id="1" /> Do not hide anything from us. If you do, we will kill you.&#8217;<n id="2" />

sent and had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guardhouse. They turned him over to Gedaliah,<n id="1" /> the son of Ahikam and the grandson of Shaphan, to take him home with him.<n id="2" /> But Jeremiah stayed among the people.<n id="3" />p>

But there were ten men among them who said<n id="1" /> to Ishmael, &#8220;Do not kill us. For we will give you the stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey we have hidden in a field.<n id="2" /> So he spared their lives and did not kill<n id="3" /> them along with the rest.<n id="4" />

They said to him, &#8220;Please grant our request<n id="1" /> and pray to the <sc>Lordsc> your God for all those of us who are still left alive here.<n id="2" /> For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before.<n id="3" />

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear.<n id="1" /> Do not be afraid of him because I will be with you to save you and to rescue you from his power. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />

You are making a fatal mistake.<n id="1" /> For you sent me to the <sc>Lordsc> your God and asked me, &#8216;Pray to the <sc>Lordsc> our God for us. Tell us what the <sc>Lordsc> our God says and we will do it.&#8217;<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed.p> <p class="poetry">It has never been taken into exile.p> <p class="poetry">Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs,p> <p class="poetry">never poured out from one jar to another.p> <p class="poetry">They are like wine which tastes like it always did,p> <p class="poetry">whose aroma has remained unchanged.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Anyone who flees at the sound of terrorp> <p class="poetry">will fall into a pit.p> <p class="poetry">Anyone who climbs out of the pitp> <p class="poetry">will be caught in a trap.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For the time is comingp> <p class="poetry">when I will punish the people of Moab.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">So listen to what I, the <sc>Lordsc>, have planned against Edom,p> <p class="poetry">what I intend to do to<n id="1" /> the people who live in Teman.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Their little ones will be dragged off.p> <p class="poetry">I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">So I, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all, say:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will punish the king of Babylon and his landp> <p class="poetry">just as I punished the king of Assyria.p>

<p class="poetry">So listen to what I, the <sc>Lordsc>, have planned against Babylon,p> <p class="poetry">what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Their little ones will be dragged off.p> <p class="poetry">I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.p>

<p class="poetry">Give the signal to attack Babylon&#8217;s wall!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Bring more guards!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Post them all around the city!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Put men in ambush!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will do what he has planned.p> <p class="poetry">He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon.<n id="5" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Do not say, &#8216;I am too young.&#8217; But go<n id="1" /> to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But you, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> get yourself ready!<n id="2" /> Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">I brought you<n id="1" /> into a fertile landp> <p class="poetry">so you could enjoy<n id="2" /> its fruits and its rich bounty.p> <p class="poetry">But when you entered my land, you defiled it;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">you made the land I call my own<n id="4" /> loathsome to me.p>