But listen to what I say to you and to all these people. ¹ 

They said to him, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch sat down and read it to them. ¹ 

But your ancestors ¹  did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate ²  and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah. ¹ 

But the people of Jerusalem and Judah ¹  would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods. ² 

So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast ¹  in the Lord’s temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the Lord said, which you wrote in the scroll. ² 

The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He went and got it from the room of Elishama, the royal secretary. Then he himself ¹  read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him.

Tell them: ‘Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes but do not discern, who have ears but do not perceive: ¹ 

But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They followed the stubborn inclinations of their own wicked hearts. They acted worse and worse instead of better. ¹ 

I said, ¹  “So now, ²  you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. ³  Open your ears to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters this mournful song, and each of you teach your neighbor ⁴  this lament.

Your ancestors, ¹  however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused ²  to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’

Over and over again ¹  the Lord has sent ²  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ³ 

Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people. ¹ 

The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the royal secretary, for safekeeping. ¹  Then they went to the court and reported everything ²  to the king. ³ 

“Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem: ¹  ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have fond memories of you, ²  how devoted you were to me in your early years. ³  I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

I answered, ¹  “Who would listen if I spoke to them and warned them? ²  Their ears are so closed ³  that they cannot hear! Indeed, ⁴  what the Lord says is offensive to them. They do not like it at all. ⁵ 

But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’” ¹ 

Say, ‘Listen to what the Lord says, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! ¹  The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says, “I will bring a disaster on this place ³  that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring! ⁴ 

Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said, ¹  “This man should be condemned to die ²  because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so ³  with your own ears.”

But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the Lord has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!” ¹