&#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" />

<p class="poetry">Oh, how shattered Moab will be!p> <p class="poetry">Oh, how her people will wail!p> <p class="poetry">Oh, how she will turn away<n id="1" /> in shame!p> <p class="poetry">Moab will become an object of ridicule,p> <p class="poetry">a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">I said, &#8220;Indeed,<n id="1" /> let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us.p> <p class="poetry">Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyesp> <p class="poetry">and our eyelids overflow with water.p>

For,&#8217; I say,<n id="1" /> &#8216;just as shorts cling tightly to a person&#8217;s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah<n id="2" /> tightly<n id="3" /> to me.&#8217; I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise.<n id="4" /> But they would not obey me.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Before I formed you in your mother&#8217;s womb<n id="1" /> I chose you.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Before you were born I set you apart.p> <p class="poetry">I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">As a well continually pours out fresh waterp> <p class="poetry">so it continually pours out wicked deeds.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">All I see are sick and wounded people.&#8217;<n id="3" />p>

Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day.<n id="1" /> But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the <sc>Lord,sc><n id="2" /> as I commanded your ancestors.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> affirms,<n id="1" /> &#8220;The descendants of Israel will notp> <p class="poetry">cease forever to be a nation in my sight.p> <p class="poetry">That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lightsp> <p class="poetry">were to cease to operate before me.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Then Jeremiah dictated to Baruch everything the <sc>Lordsc> had told him to say and Baruch wrote it all down in a scroll.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Army of Babylon,<n id="2" /> go and attackp> <p class="poetry">a nation that lives in peace and security.p> <p class="poetry">They have no gates or walls to protect them.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They live all alone.p>

<p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Who has a word from the <sc>Lordsc> that can explain it?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Why does the land lie in ruins?p> <p class="poetry">Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Should good be paid back with evil?p> <p class="poetry">Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Just remember how I stood before youp> <p class="poetry">pleading on their behalf<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">to keep you from venting your anger on them.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonp> <p class="poetry">devoured me and drove my people out.p> <p class="poetry">Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me.p> <p class="poetry">He filled his belly with my riches.p> <p class="poetry">He made me an empty dish.p> <p class="poetry">He completely cleaned me out.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">When their appetites are all stirred up,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will set out a banquet for them.p> <p class="poetry">I will make them drunkp> <p class="poetry">so that they will pass out,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they will fall asleep forever,p> <p class="poetry">they will never wake up,&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;For the <sc>Lordsc> says concerning the palace of the king of Judah,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me.p> <p class="poetry">It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes.p> <p class="poetry">But I swear that I will make it like a wildernessp> <p class="poetry">whose towns have all been deserted.<n id="1" />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>

<p class="poetry">Hear what the <sc>Lordsc> has to say, O nations.p> <p class="poetry">Proclaim it in the faraway lands along the sea.p> <p class="poetry">Say, &#8220;The one who scattered Israel will regather them.p> <p class="poetry">He will watch over his people like a shepherd watches over his flock.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, &#8220;Why has the <sc>Lordsc> done such a thing to this great city?&#8221;

So if a prophet prophesied<n id="1" /> peace and prosperity, it was only known that the <sc>Lordsc> truly sent him when what he prophesied came true.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Go west<n id="1" /> across the sea to the coasts of Cyprus<n id="2" /> and see.p> <p class="poetry">Send someone east to Kedar<n id="3" /> and have them look carefully.p> <p class="poetry">See if such a thing as this has ever happened:p>