Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their ¹  wives, by you and your wives?

“I will deliver you from the power of the wicked. I will free you from the clutches of violent people.”

But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, ¹  I will cancel the destruction ²  I intended to do to it.

Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. ¹  If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them ²  as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing. ³ 

Do not cause me dismay! ¹  You are my source of safety in times of trouble.

Moab’s destruction is at hand. Disaster will come on it quickly.

He did what displeased the Lord ¹  just as Jehoiakim had done.

Then the Lord said, “This means ¹  destruction will break out from the north on all who live in the land.

“My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! ¹  Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ² 

You will not always be angry with me, will you? You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ ¹  That is what you say, but you continually do all the evil that you can.” ² 

“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?

The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely. But there is too much dross to be removed. ¹  The process of refining them has proved useless. ²  The wicked have not been purged.

Not one of them will survive. ¹  I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you. ²  A day of reckoning is coming for them.” ³ 

But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! ¹  We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” ² 

Moreover, ¹  the Lord says, ²  “Both the prophets and priests are godless. I have even found them doing evil in my temple!

But if they had stood in my inner circle, ¹  they would have proclaimed my message to my people. They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

So, now the Lord says, ¹  ‘You have not listened to me. But ²  you have made me angry by the things that you have done. ³  Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

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 

Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. ¹  Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful ²  it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, ³  to show no respect for me,” ⁴  says the Lord God who rules over all. ⁵ 

The Lord says, ¹  “These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows. Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. ²  They have become powerful in the land, but they have not done so by honest means. ³  Indeed, they do one evil thing after another ⁴  and do not pay attention to me. ⁵