<p class="poetry">&#8220;See how Babylon<n id="1" /> has been captured!p> <p class="poetry">See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken!p> <p class="poetry">See what an object of horrorp> <p class="poetry">Babylon has become among the nations!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Babylon must fall<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because of the Israelites she has killed,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">just as the earth&#8217;s mortally wounded fellp> <p class="poetry">because of Babylon.<n id="3" />p>

Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, &#8220;When you arrive in Babylon, make sure<n id="1" /> you read aloud all these prophecies.<n id="2" />

There were ninety-six pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it.p>

Jehoiachin<n id="1" /> took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king&#8217;s presence for the rest of his life.

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Indeed,<n id="1" /> long ago you threw off my authorityp> <p class="poetry">and refused to be subject to me.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You said, &#8216;I will not serve you.&#8217;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hillp> <p class="poetry">and under every green tree,p> <p class="poetry">like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">When Josiah was king of Judah, the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done.<n id="1" /> You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.<n id="2" />

However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="2" />p>

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">So I will give their wives to other menp> <p class="poetry">and their fields to new owners.p> <p class="poetry">For from the least important to the most important of them,p> <p class="poetry">all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.p> <p class="poetry">Prophets and priests alike,p> <p class="poetry">all practice deceit.p>

<p class="poetry">A destructive army<n id="1" /> will come marchingp> <p class="poetry">over the hilltops in the desert.p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will use them as his destructive weapon<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">against<n id="3" /> everyone from one end of the land to the other.p> <p class="poetry">No one will be safe.<n id="4" />p>

For,&#8217; I say,<n id="1" /> &#8216;just as shorts cling tightly to a person&#8217;s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah<n id="2" /> tightly<n id="3" /> to me.&#8217; I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise.<n id="4" /> But they would not obey me.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So tell them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, says, &#8220;Every wine jar is made to be filled with wine.&#8221;&#8217;<n id="2" /> And they will probably say to you, &#8216;Do you not think we know<n id="3" /> that every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine?&#8217;

Then<n id="1" /> tell them, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor.<n id="2" /> I will also fill the kings from David&#8217;s dynasty,<n id="3" /> the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor.<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;When you tell these people about all this,<n id="1" /> they will undoubtedly ask you, &#8216;Why has the <sc>Lordsc> threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the <sc>Lordsc> our God?&#8217;

<p class="bodytext">But for now I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8220;I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks.<n id="2" />

The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies<n id="1" /> just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars<n id="2" /> and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.&#8217;&#8221;p>

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it<n id="2" /> all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused<n id="3" /> to pay any attention to what I have said!&#8217;&#8221;p>

For the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you.<n id="1" /> You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies.<n id="2" /> I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.

You, Pashhur, and all your household<n id="1" /> will go into exile in Babylon. You will die there and you will be buried there. The same thing will happen to all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

all the kings of the north, whether near or far from one another; and all the other kingdoms which are on the face of the earth. After all of them have drunk the wine of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s wrath,<n id="1" /> the king of Babylon<n id="2" /> must drink it.p>