“I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me. ¹ 

Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am no longer allowed to go ¹  into the Lord’s temple.

Do you people think ¹  that I am some local deity and not the transcendent God?” ²  the Lord asks. ³ 

As to my case, I am in your power. ¹  Do to me what you deem fair and proper.

My heart is crushed because my dear people ¹  are being crushed. ²  I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. ³ 

So I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me. ² 

I answered, “Oh, Lord God, ¹  I really ²  do not know how to speak well enough for that, ³  for I am too young.” ⁴ 

I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares….’ ² 

Then the Lord said, “You have observed correctly. This means ¹  I am watching to make sure my threats are carried out.” ² 

Then I said, ¹  “There is no cure ²  for my grief! I am sick at heart!

I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, ¹  I am tired of trying to hold it in.” The Lord answered, ²  “Vent it, then, ³  on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, ⁴  as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ But go ¹  to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you.

“Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” ¹  says the Lord God who rules over all. ²  “Indeed, ³  your day of reckoning ⁴  has come, the time when I will punish you. ⁵ 

But I am not really the one being troubled!” ¹  says the Lord. “Rather they are bringing trouble on themselves to their own shame! ² 

‘You have said, “I feel so hopeless! ¹  For the Lord has added sorrow to my suffering. ²  I am worn out from groaning. I can’t find any rest.”’”

For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own. ¹  So how can you possibly avoid being punished? ²  You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the Lord who rules over all, ³  affirm it!’ ⁴ 

Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” ¹  But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.

So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ¹  this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. ²  So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. ³  Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ ⁴ 

“The Lord God of Israel says, ¹  ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. ² 

Listen, you ¹  who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau. I am opposed to you,’ ²  says the Lord. ³  ‘You boast, “No one can swoop down on us. No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.” ⁴