He sent it after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the palace officials, ¹  the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had been exiled from Jerusalem. ² 

At that time the Babylonian forces ¹  had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. ²  They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt. ³ )

So Jeremiah remained confined ¹  in the courtyard of the guardhouse until the day Jerusalem ²  was captured.The following events occurred when Jerusalem ³  was captured. ⁴ 

He will be left unburied just like a dead donkey. His body will be dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.’” ¹ 

“Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil ¹  so that you may yet be delivered. How long will you continue to harbor up wicked schemes within you?

So ¹  take warning, Jerusalem, or I will abandon you in disgust ²  and make you desolate, a place where no one can live.”

Do you see ¹  what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ² 

Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem ¹  continually turn away from me in apostasy? They hold fast to their deception. ²  They refuse to turn back to me. ³ 

“Hear ¹  the terms of the covenant ²  I made with Israel ³  and pass them on ⁴  to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. ⁵ 

The Lord said to me, “The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have plotted rebellion against me! ¹ 

“I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘This shows how ²  I will ruin the highly exalted position ³  in which Judah and Jerusalem ⁴  take pride.

“The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. ¹  Cries of distress come up to me ²  from Jerusalem. ³ 

“The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says to all those he sent ²  into exile to Babylon from Jerusalem, ³ 

‘So pay attention to what I, the Lord, have said, ¹  all you exiles whom I have sent to Babylon from Jerusalem.’

The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.

The following events also occurred ¹  while the Babylonian forces ²  had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem ³  because the army of Pharaoh was coming.

Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin. He wanted to make sure he got his share of the property that was being divided up among his family there. ¹ 

I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt with war, starvation, and disease just as I punished Jerusalem.

in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, ¹  832 people from Jerusalem;

At that time the city of Jerusalem ¹  will be called the Lord’s throne. All nations will gather there in Jerusalem to honor the Lord’s name. ²  They will no longer follow the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. ³