<p class="poetry">Surging waters cannot quench love;p> <p class="poetry">floodwaters<n id="1" /> cannot overflow it.p> <p class="poetry">If someone were to offer all his possessions<n id="2" /> to buy love,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">the offer<n id="4" /> would be utterly despised.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief<n id="1" /> and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Where is your mother&#8217;s divorce certificatep> <p class="poetry">by which I divorced her?p> <p class="poetry">Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Look, you were sold because of your sins;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because he willingly submitted<n id="3" /> to deathp> <p class="poetry">and was numbered with the rebels,p> <p class="poetry">when he lifted up the sin of manyp> <p class="poetry">and intervened<n id="4" /> on behalf of the rebels.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Hey,<n id="1" /> all who are thirsty, come to the water!p> <p class="poetry">You who have no money, come!p> <p class="poetry">Buy and eat!p> <p class="poetry">Come! Buy wine and milkp> <p class="poetry">without money and without cost!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">As for foreigners who become followers of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> and serve him,p> <p class="poetry">who love the name of the <sc>Lordsc> and want to be his servants &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,p> <p class="poetry">and who are faithful to<n id="2" /> my covenant &#8211;p>

So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped<n id="1" /> in the early days. See what I did to it<n id="2" /> because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

<p class="poetry">I<n id="1" /> hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.p> <p class="poetry">Those who would cause me terror are everywhere!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They are saying, &#8220;Come on, let&#8217;s publicly denounce him!&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">All my so-called friends<n id="4" /> are just watching forp> <p class="poetry">something that would lead to my downfall.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">They say, &#8220;Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up,p> <p class="poetry">so we can prevail over<n id="6" /> him and get our revenge on him.p>

I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power<n id="1" /> of my servant,<n id="2" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him.<n id="3" />

For the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8220;I have put an irresistible yoke of servitude on all these nations<n id="2" /> so they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And they will indeed serve him. I have even given him control over the wild animals.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children.p> <p class="poetry">They are the children I take delight in.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For even though I must often rebuke them,p> <p class="poetry">I still remember them with fondness.p> <p class="poetry">So I am deeply moved with pity for them<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and will surely have compassion on them.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" />p>

So the <sc>Lordsc> says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, &#8220;None of his line will occupy the throne of David.<n id="1" /> His dead body will be thrown out to be exposed to scorching heat by day and frost by night.<n id="2" />

Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread<n id="1" /> be given to him every day from the baker&#8217;s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept<n id="2" /> in the courtyard of the guardhouse.p>

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease.<n id="1" /> Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians<n id="2" /> will live. They will escape with their lives.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke about the Ammonites.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining?p> <p class="poetry">Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land?p> <p class="poetry">Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities?<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">As I watched, I noticed<n id="1" /> a windstorm<n id="2" /> coming from the north &#8211; an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing,<n id="3" /> such that bright light<n id="4" /> rimmed it and came from<n id="5" /> it like glowing amber<n id="6" /> from the middle of a fire.

I saw an amber glow<n id="1" /> like a fire enclosed all around<n id="2" /> from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it,

Say to them: &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;A great eagle<n id="2" /> with broad wings, long feathers,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">with full plumage which was multi-hued,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">came to Lebanon<n id="5" /> and took the top of the cedar.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;There was another great eagle<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">with broad wings and thick plumage.p> <p class="poetry">Now this vine twisted its roots toward himp> <p class="poetry">and sent its branches toward himp> <p class="poetry">to be watered from the soil where it was planted.p>

&#8220;Son of man, sing<n id="1" /> a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;You were the sealer<n id="2" /> of perfection,p> <p class="poetry">full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.p>