Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, ¹  “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, ²  “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” ³ 

“A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan ¹  scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. ²  So too I will chase the Edomites off their land. ³  Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. ⁴  For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account. ⁵  There is no ⁶  ruler ⁷  who can stand up against me.

“A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For there is no one like me. There is no one who can call me to account. There is no ruler that can stand up against me.

In this place I will thwart ¹  the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword ²  at the hands of their enemies. ³  I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat.

All the people living in Jerusalem ¹  and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah came to observe a fast before the Lord. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² 

The Lord said to the people of Judah, ¹  “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! ³ 

Now some of the officers of the Judean army and their troops had been hiding in the countryside. They heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam to govern ¹  the country. They also heard that he had been put in charge over the men, women, and children from the poorer classes of the land who had not been carried off into exile in Babylon. ² 

Because of that, ¹  the Lord, the God who rules over all, ²  said to me, ³  “Because these people have spoken ⁴  like this, ⁵  I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire. And I will make this people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” ⁶ 

All of this is because ¹  the Lord who rules over all ²  has said: ‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem and build up a siege ramp against its walls. ³  This is the city which is to be punished. ⁴  Nothing but oppression happens in it. ⁵ 

The Lord, who is the inheritance ¹  of Jacob’s descendants, ²  is not like them. He is the one who created everything. And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own. ³  He is known as the Lord who rules over all.” ⁴ 

For though I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹  planted you in the land, ²  I now decree that disaster will come on you ³  because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” ⁴ 

So I said to the Lord, ¹  “O Lord who rules over all, ²  you are a just judge! You examine people’s hearts and minds. ³  I want to see you pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” ⁴ 

But the Lord is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. ¹  Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me. They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

The Lord says, “Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless. ¹  Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime. For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”

“I, the Lord, promise ¹  that a new time will certainly come ²  when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ³  a descendant of David. He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ⁴  and will do what is just and right in the land. ⁵ 

Here is what the Lord says concerning the false prophets: ²  My heart and my mind are deeply disturbed. I tremble all over. ³  I am like a drunk person, like a person who has had too much wine, ⁴  because of the way the Lord and his holy word are being mistreated. ⁵ 

So then I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹  have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ²  ‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ³  For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason ⁴  that ungodliness ⁵  has spread throughout the land.’”

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says to the people of Jerusalem: ²  “Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own imaginations, not something the Lord has given them to say. ³ 

You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome. ¹  For what is ‘burdensome’ ²  really pertains to what a person himself says. ³  You are misrepresenting ⁴  the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all. ⁵ 

Then the Lord said to me, ¹  “Tell them that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says, ³  ‘Drink this cup ⁴  until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can’t get up. ⁵  For I will send wars sweeping through you.’ ⁶