From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now,<n id="1" /> I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again,<n id="2" /> day after day.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">I hear my dear people<n id="1" /> crying out<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">throughout the length and breadth of the land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They are crying, &#8216;Is the <sc>Lordsc> no longer in Zion?p> <p class="poetry">Is her divine King<n id="4" /> no longer there?&#8217;&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> answers,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,p> <p class="poetry">with their worthless foreign idols?&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors<n id="1" /> to keep<n id="2" /> when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace.<n id="3" /> I said at that time,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement<n id="5" /> exactly as I commanded you. If you do,<n id="6" /> you will be my people and I will be your God.<n id="7" />

<p class="poetry">Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.p> <p class="poetry">I did not know they were making plans to kill me.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I did not know they were saying,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Let&#8217;s destroy the tree along with its fruit!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Let&#8217;s remove Jeremiah<n id="4" /> from the world of the livingp> <p class="poetry">so people will not even be reminded of him any more.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

But in that time they will affirm them with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.&#8217; At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

But at that time they will affirm them with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel<n id="1" /> from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished<n id="2" /> them.&#8221;<n id="3" /> At that time they will live in their own land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell you not to be afraid,p> <p class="poetry">you descendants of Jacob, my servants.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not be terrified, people of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">For I will rescue you and your descendantsp> <p class="poetry">from a faraway land where you are captives.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.p> <p class="poetry">They will be secure and no one will terrify them.<n id="3" />p>

It will not be like the old<n id="1" /> covenant that I made with their ancestors<n id="2" /> when I delivered them<n id="3" /> from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,&#8221;<n id="4" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="5" />

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="poetry">&#8220;You descendants of Jacob, my servants,<n id="2" /> do not be afraid;p> <p class="poetry">do not be terrified, people of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">For I will rescue you and your descendantsp> <p class="poetry">from the faraway lands where you are captives.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.p> <p class="poetry">They will be secure and no one will terrify them.p>

<p class="poetry">For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylonp> <p class="poetry">a host of mighty nations<n id="1" /> from the land of the north.p> <p class="poetry">They will set up their battle lines against her.p> <p class="poetry">They will come from the north and capture her.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">who does not return from the battle empty-handed.<n id="4" />p>

On that day I swore<n id="1" /> to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out<n id="2" /> for them, a land flowing with milk and honey,<n id="3" /> the most beautiful of all lands.

&#8220;You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon&#8217;s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.

<p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">I will destroy the idols,p> <p class="poetry">and put an end to the gods of Memphis.p> <p class="poetry">There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;p> <p class="poetry">so I will make the land of Egypt fearful.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">From there I will give back her vineyards to her,p> <p class="poetry">and turn the &#8220;Valley of Trouble&#8221;<n id="1" /> into an &#8220;Opportunity<n id="2" /> for Hope.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">There she will sing as she did when she was young,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">when<n id="4" /> she came up from the land of Egypt.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,p> <p class="poetry">but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor<n id="2" /> and the Arameans from Kir.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;I am against you!&#8221; declares<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will burn your chariots<n id="3" /> with fire;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">the sword will devour your young lions;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">you will no longer prey upon the land;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">the voices of your messengers<n id="7" /> will no longer be heard.&#8221;p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">When the people saw that Moses delayed<n id="2" /> in coming down<n id="3" /> from the mountain, they<n id="4" /> gathered around Aaron and said to him, &#8220;Get up,<n id="5" /> make us gods<n id="6" /> that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses,<n id="7" /> the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what<n id="8" /> has become of him!&#8221;p>

As for that prophet or dreamer,<n id="1" /> he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the <sc>Lordsc> your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the <sc>Lordsc> your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within.<n id="2" />p>