<p class="poetry">The gates of the towns in southern Judah will be shut tight.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">No one will be able to go in or out of them.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">All Judah will be carried off into exile.p> <p class="poetry">They will be completely carried off into exile.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">You will probably ask yourself,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Why have these things happened to me?p> <p class="poetry">Why have I been treated like a disgraced adulteressp> <p class="poetry">whose skirt has been torn off and her limbs exposed?&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">It is because you have sinned so much.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says to all those he sent<n id="2" /> into exile to Babylon from Jerusalem,<n id="3" />

There were two copies of the deed of purchase. One was sealed and contained the order of transfer and the conditions of purchase.<n id="1" /> The other was left unsealed.

But I will most surely<n id="1" /> heal the wounds of this city and restore it and its people to health.<n id="2" /> I will show them abundant<n id="3" /> peace and security.

The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed<n id="1" /> at Riblah in the territory of Hamath.p> <p class="bodytext">So Judah was taken into exile away from its land.

Here is the official record of the number of people<n id="1" /> Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: In the seventh year,<n id="2" /> 3,023 Jews;

<p class="poetry">So I said to the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;O <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="2" /> you are a just judge!p> <p class="poetry">You examine people&#8217;s hearts and minds.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I want to see you pay them back for what they have donep> <p class="poetry">because I trust you to vindicate my cause.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">O <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" /> you test and prove the righteous.p> <p class="poetry">You see into people&#8217;s hearts and minds.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Pay them back for what they have donep> <p class="poetry">because I trust you to vindicate my cause.p>

For he will die in the country where they took him as a captive. He will never see this land again.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the <sc>Lordsc> for it. For as it prospers you will prosper.&#8217;p>

But Baruch son of Neriah is stirring you up against us.<n id="1" /> He wants to hand us over<n id="2" /> to the Babylonians<n id="3" /> so that they will kill us or carry us off into exile in Babylon.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">But I will strip everything away from Esau&#8217;s descendants.p> <p class="poetry">I will uncover their hiding places so they cannot hide.p> <p class="poetry">Their children, relatives, and neighbors will all be destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">Not one of them will be left!p>

The <sc>Lordsc> also spoke to him when Jehoiakim son of Josiah ruled over Judah, and he continued to speak to him until the fifth month of the eleventh year<n id="1" /> that Zedekiah son of Josiah ruled over Judah. That was when the people of Jerusalem<n id="2" /> were taken into exile.<n id="3" />p>

For the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you.<n id="1" /> You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies.<n id="2" /> I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.

He has already spoken about these things that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiakim&#8217;s son King Jeconiah of Judah and the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem away as captives.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from Jerusalem<n id="1" /> to Babylon. It was addressed to the elders who were left among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the other people who were exiled in Babylon.<n id="2" />

I will make myself available to you,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> &#8216;Then I will reverse your plight<n id="3" /> and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" /> &#8216;I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.&#8217;p>

&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8220;Take these documents, both the sealed copy of the deed of purchase and the unsealed copy. Put them in a clay jar so that they may be preserved for a long time to come.&#8221;&#8217;<n id="2" />

Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard,<n id="1" /> took captive the rest of the people who were left in the city. He carried them off to Babylon along with the people who had deserted to him.<n id="2" />