“You who live along the rivers of Babylon, ¹  the time of your end has come. You who are rich in plundered treasure, it is time for your lives to be cut off. ² 

So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, Nebushazban, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official, ¹  and all the other officers of the king of Babylon

But he ¹  left behind some of the poor ²  and gave them fields and vineyards.

“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.

Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had issued orders concerning Jeremiah. He had passed them on through Nebuzaradan, the captain of his royal guard, ¹ 

“Look! An army is about to come from the north. A mighty nation and many kings ¹  are stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

But for now I, the Lord, say: ¹  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ² 

The Lord says to the people of Judah, ¹  “What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? ²  Many of you have done wicked things. ³  Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings ⁴  that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them? ⁵ 

Many foreign rulers ¹  will ruin the land where I planted my people. ²  They will trample all over my chosen land. ³  They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wasteland.

Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to Perath and get ¹  the shorts I ordered you to bury there.”

“‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?”

For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation ¹  too. I will repay them for all they have done!’” ² 

From earliest times, the prophets who preceded you and me invariably ¹  prophesied war, disaster, ²  and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms.

You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. ¹  You see everything people do. ²  You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do. ³ 

So ¹  Jeremiah was put in prison in a cell in the dungeon in Jonathan’s house. ²  He ³  was kept there for a long time.

The captain of the royal guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster.

So they took all their troops and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the large pool ¹  at Gibeon.

For the Lord is ready to destroy Babylon, and put an end to her loud noise. Their waves ¹  will roar like turbulent ²  waters. They will make a deafening noise. ³ 

The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.