<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Then, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> make the following prophecy<n id="2" /> against them:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Like a lion about to attack,<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> will roar from the heights of heaven;p> <p class="poetry">from his holy dwelling on high he will roar loudly.p> <p class="poetry">He will roar mightily against his land.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">He will shout in triumph like those stomping juice from the grapes<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">against all those who live on the earth.p>

The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;Go stand in the courtyard of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="1" /> Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word!

Then he spoke up in the presence of all the people. &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;In the same way I will break the yoke of servitude of all the nations to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon<n id="1" /> before two years are over.&#8217;&#8221; After he heard this, the prophet Jeremiah departed and went on his way.<n id="2" />p>

I will make myself available to you,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> &#8216;Then I will reverse your plight<n id="3" /> and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" /> &#8216;I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.&#8217;p>

I will chase after them with war,<n id="1" /> starvation, and disease. I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to them. I will make them examples of those who are cursed, objects of horror, hissing scorn, and ridicule among all the nations where I exile them.

that the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> has a message for him.<n id="2" /> Tell him,<n id="3" /> &#8216;On your own initiative<n id="4" /> you sent a letter<n id="5" /> to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah<n id="6" /> and to all the other priests and to all the people in Jerusalem.<n id="7" /> In your letter you said to Zephaniah,<n id="8" />

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I will not reject all the descendants of Israelp> <p class="poetry">because of all that they have done.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">That could only happen if the heavens above could be measuredp> <p class="poetry">or the foundations of the earth below could all be explored,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="3" />p>

The whole valley where dead bodies and sacrificial ashes are thrown<n id="1" /> and all the terraced fields<n id="2" /> out to the Kidron Valley<n id="3" /> on the east as far north<n id="4" /> as the Horse Gate<n id="5" /> will be included within this city that is sacred to the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="6" /> The city will never again be torn down or destroyed.&#8221;p>

But when they came in and took possession of it, they did not obey you or live as you had instructed them. They did not do anything that you commanded them to do.<n id="1" /> So you brought all this disaster on them.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will surely bring on these people all the good fortune that I am hereby promising them. I will be just as sure to do that as I have been in bringing all this great disaster on them.<n id="2" />

All the people and their leaders had agreed to this. They had agreed to free their male and female slaves and not keep them enslaved any longer. They originally complied with the covenant and freed them.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Then Jeremiah spoke to the Rechabite community, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;You have obeyed the orders of your ancestor Jonadab. You have followed all his instructions. You have done exactly as he commanded you.&#8217;

&#8220;Get a scroll.<n id="1" /> Write on it everything I have told you to say<n id="2" /> about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now.<n id="3" />

All the people living in Jerusalem<n id="1" /> and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah came to observe a fast before the <sc>Lordsc>. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.<n id="2" />

He went down to the chamber of the royal secretary in the king&#8217;s palace and found all the court officials in session there. Elishama<n id="1" /> the royal secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor,<n id="2" /> Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were seated there.

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" />

All the officials did indeed come and question Jeremiah.<n id="1" /> He told them exactly what the king had instructed him to say.<n id="2" /> They stopped questioning him any further because no one had actually heard their conversation.<n id="3" />

Then Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official,<n id="1" /> and all the other officers of the king of Babylon came and set up quarters<n id="2" /> in the Middle Gate.<n id="3" />

Moreover, all the Judeans who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and all the other countries heard what had happened. They heard that the king of Babylon had allowed some people to stay in Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them.

So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs.<n id="1" />p>