<p class="poetry">So I will pull your skirt up over your facep> <p class="poetry">and expose you to shame like a disgraced adulteress!<n id="1" />p>

&#8220;Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;I have fond memories of you,<n id="2" /> how devoted you were to me in your early years.<n id="3" /> I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

<p class="poetry">&#8220;At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem<n id="1" /> will be told,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;A scorching wind will sweep downp> <p class="poetry">from the hilltops in the desert on<n id="2" /> my dear people.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">It will not be a gentle breezep> <p class="poetry">for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, &#8216;What burdensome message<n id="2" /> do you have from the <sc>Lordsc>?&#8217; Tell them, &#8216;You are the burden,<n id="3" /> and I will cast you away.<n id="4" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;If a man divorces his wifep> <p class="poetry">and she leaves him and becomes another man&#8217;s wife,p> <p class="poetry">he may not take her back again.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Doing that would utterly defile the land.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">So what makes you think you can return to me?&#8221;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, &#8220;Listen, Hananiah! The <sc>Lordsc> did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie!<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">They are saying,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Announce to the surrounding nations,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The enemy is coming!&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Proclaim this message<n id="4" /> to Jerusalem:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Those who besiege cities<n id="5" /> are coming from a distant land.p> <p class="poetry">They are ready to raise the battle cry against<n id="6" /> the towns in Judah.&#8221;&#8217;p>

I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for<n id="1" /> their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

<p class="poetry">I will make you as strong as a wall to these people,p> <p class="poetry">a fortified wall of bronze.p> <p class="poetry">They will attack you,p> <p class="poetry">but they will not be able to overcome you.p> <p class="poetry">For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8220;Take these documents, both the sealed copy of the deed of purchase and the unsealed copy. Put them in a clay jar so that they may be preserved for a long time to come.&#8221;&#8217;<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">They say to a wooden idol,<n id="1" /> &#8216;You are my father.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">They say to a stone image, &#8216;You gave birth to me.&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Yet when they are in trouble, they say, &#8216;Come and save us!&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">Like a lion that has come up from its lair<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He is coming out to lay your land waste.p> <p class="poetry">Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;But just look at you!<n id="1" /> You are putting your confidence in a false belief<n id="2" /> that will not deliver you.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Egypt will run away, hissing like a snake,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">as the enemy comes marching up in force.p> <p class="poetry">They will come against her with axesp> <p class="poetry">as if they were woodsmen chopping down trees.p>

Recently, however, you yourselves<n id="1" /> showed a change of heart and did what is pleasing to me. You granted your fellow countrymen their freedom and you made a covenant to that effect in my presence in the house that I have claimed for my own.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth.p> <p class="poetry">I will unleash my power against you;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Fair Babylon<n id="1" /> will be like a threshing floorp> <p class="poetry">which has been trampled flat for harvest.p> <p class="poetry">The time for her to be cut down and harvestedp> <p class="poetry">will come very soon.&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Many foreign rulers<n id="1" /> will ruin the land where I planted my people.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They will trample all over my chosen land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will turn my beautiful landp> <p class="poetry">into a desolate wasteland.p>

<p class="poetry">Why should you be like someone who is helpless,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like a champion<n id="2" /> who cannot save anyone?p> <p class="poetry">You are indeed with us,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and we belong to you.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not abandon us!&#8221;p>

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chiselp> <p class="poetry">on their stone-hard<n id="2" /> hearts.p> <p class="poetry">It is inscribed with a diamond<n id="3" /> pointp> <p class="poetry">on the horns of their altars.<n id="4" />p>