<t /><p class="bodytext">Then I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;<sc>Lordsc>, from the very beginningp> <p class="poetry">you have been seated on your glorious throne on high.p> <p class="poetry">You are the place where we can find refuge.p>

If you stop doing these things,<n id="1" /> I will allow you to continue to live in this land<n id="2" /> which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession.<n id="3" />p>

&#8220;Do not get married and do not have children here in this land.

I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;That is how I will deal with this city and its citizens. I will make it like Topheth.

I will do so because these people<n id="1" /> have rejected me and have defiled<n id="2" /> this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods which neither they nor their ancestors<n id="3" /> nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children.<n id="4" />

Before two years are over, I will bring back to this place everything that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from it and carried away to Babylon.

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>

<p class="poetry">Like a lion that has come up from its lair<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He is coming out to lay your land waste.p> <p class="poetry">Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.p>

The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right.<n id="2" /> If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land.<n id="3" />

Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands.<n id="1" /> Stop killing innocent people<n id="2" /> in this land. Stop paying allegiance to<n id="3" /> other gods. That will only bring about your ruin.<n id="4" />

So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own,<n id="1" /> this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors,<n id="2" /> just like I destroyed Shiloh.<n id="3" />

So I went to Perath and dug up<n id="1" /> the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found<n id="2" /> that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.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>

I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses.<n id="1" /> That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them.<n id="2" />

He has said, &#8216;They will be carried off to Babylon. They will remain there until it is time for me to show consideration for them again.<n id="1" /> Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.&#8217; I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm this!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

&#8216;I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled<n id="1" /> them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

The captain of the royal guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> your God threatened this place with this disaster.

So now be very sure of this: You will die from war, starvation, or disease in the place where you want to go and live.&#8221;p>

So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped<n id="1" /> in the early days. See what I did to it<n id="2" /> because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

So,&#8221; the Lord <sc>Godsc><n id="1" /> says, &#8220;my raging fury will be poured out on this land.<n id="2" /> It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops.<n id="3" /> And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.&#8221;p>