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" />

If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says. The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;If you are so determined<n id="2" /> to go to Egypt that you go and settle there,

You have sacrificed to other gods! You have sinned against the <sc>Lordsc>! You have not obeyed the <sc>Lordsc>! You have not followed his laws, his statutes, and his decrees! That is why this disaster that is evident to this day has happened to you.&#8221;<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">&#8220;A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So too I will chase the Edomites off their land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">There is no<n id="6" /> ruler<n id="7" /> who can stand up against me.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordanp> <p class="poetry">scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it.p> <p class="poetry">So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land.p> <p class="poetry">Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.p> <p class="poetry">For there is no one like me.p> <p class="poetry">There is no one who can call me to account.p> <p class="poetry">There is no ruler that can stand up against me.p>

<p class="bodytext">On the tenth<n id="1" /> day of the fifth month,<n id="2" /> in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard<n id="3" /> who served<n id="4" /> the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> showed me two baskets of figs sitting before his temple. This happened after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deported Jehoiakim&#8217;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.<n id="1" />

But now, Jeremiah, today I will set you free<n id="1" /> from the chains on your wrists. If you would like to come to Babylon with me, come along and I will take care of you.<n id="2" /> But if you prefer not to come to Babylon with me, you are not required to do so.<n id="3" /> You are free to go anywhere in the land you want to go.<n id="4" /> Go wherever you choose.&#8221;<n id="5" />

I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go<n id="1" /> and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle<n id="2" /> or perish from starvation. People of every class<n id="3" /> will die in war or from starvation. They 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" />

From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king&#8217;s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens<n id="1" /> for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city.