They said to him, &#8220;Please grant our request<n id="1" /> and pray to the <sc>Lordsc> your God for all those of us who are still left alive here.<n id="2" /> For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before.<n id="3" />

If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says. The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;If you are so determined<n id="2" /> to go to Egypt that you go and settle there,

You have sacrificed to other gods! You have sinned against the <sc>Lordsc>! You have not obeyed the <sc>Lordsc>! You have not followed his laws, his statutes, and his decrees! That is why this disaster that is evident to this day has happened to you.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Anyone who flees at the sound of terrorp> <p class="poetry">will fall into a pit.p> <p class="poetry">Anyone who climbs out of the pitp> <p class="poetry">will be caught in a trap.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For the time is comingp> <p class="poetry">when I will punish the people of Moab.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So too I will chase the Edomites off their land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">There is no<n id="6" /> ruler<n id="7" /> who can stand up against me.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordanp> <p class="poetry">scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it.p> <p class="poetry">So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land.p> <p class="poetry">Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.p> <p class="poetry">For there is no one like me.p> <p class="poetry">There is no one who can call me to account.p> <p class="poetry">There is no ruler that can stand up against me.p>

<p class="bodytext">On the tenth<n id="1" /> day of the fifth month,<n id="2" /> in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard<n id="3" /> who served<n id="4" /> the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.

<p class="lamhebrew">&#1511; (<i>Qofi>)p> <p class="poetry">Get up! Cry out in the night<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when the night watches start!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Pour out your heart<n id="3" /> like waterp> <p class="poetry">before the face of the Lord!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Lift up your hands<n id="5" /> to himp> <p class="poetry">for your children&#8217;s lives;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">they are fainting<n id="7" />p> <p class="poetry">at every street corner.<n id="8" />p>

like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain.<n id="1" /> This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the <sc>Lordsc>. When I saw<n id="2" /> it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.p>

But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words &#8211; even though briers<n id="1" /> and thorns<n id="2" /> surround you and you live among scorpions &#8211; do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you,<n id="3" /> for they are a rebellious house!

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle<n id="1" /> before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

Then for your part take an iron frying pan<n id="1" /> and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign<n id="2" /> for the house of Israel.p>

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize<n id="1" /> how I was crushed by their unfaithful<n id="2" /> heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves<n id="3" /> because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month,<n id="1" /> as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand<n id="2" /> of the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> seized me.<n id="3" />

Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel<n id="1" /> (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant<n id="2" /> vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.p>

<p class="bodytext">Then he brought me to the inner court of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s house. Right there<n id="1" /> at the entrance to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, between the porch and the altar,<n id="2" /> were about twenty-five<n id="3" /> men with their backs to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple,<n id="4" /> facing east &#8211; they were worshiping the sun<n id="5" /> toward the east!p>

Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women &#8211; wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!&#8221; So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.p>

While they were striking them down, I was left alone, and I threw myself face down and cried out, &#8220;Ah, sovereign <sc>Lordsc>! Will you destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, &#8220;Alas, sovereign <sc>Lordsc>! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The prince<n id="1" /> who is among them will raise his belongings<n id="2" /> onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He<n id="3" /> will dig a hole in the wall to leave through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes.