<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to the people of Judah,<n id="1" /> &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says: &#8216;You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too!<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Therefore, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;You have not listened to what I said.<n id="2" />

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;I will break the yoke of servitude<n id="2" /> to the king of Babylon.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says to all those he sent<n id="2" /> into exile to Babylon from Jerusalem,<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will kill all the archers of Elam,p> <p class="poetry">who are the chief source of her military might.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the Lord <sc>Godsc> who rules over all.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Indeed,<n id="3" /> your day of reckoning<n id="4" /> has come,p> <p class="poetry">the time when I will punish you.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> has solemnly sworn,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will fill your land with enemy soldiers.p> <p class="poetry">They will swarm over it like locusts.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will raise up shouts of victory over it.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">But that day belongs to the Lord God who rules over all.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">It is the day when he will pay back his enemies.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied!p> <p class="poetry">It will drink their blood until it is full!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For the Lord <sc>Godsc> who rules over all<n id="4" /> will offer them up as a sacrificep> <p class="poetry">in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.p>

<p class="poetry">All of this is because<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="2" /> has said:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Cut down the trees around Jerusalemp> <p class="poetry">and build up a siege ramp against its walls.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">This is the city which is to be punished.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Nothing but oppression happens in it.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> said to me:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Those who remain in Israel will bep> <p class="poetry">like the grapes thoroughly gleaned<n id="3" /> from a vine.p> <p class="poetry">So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvesterp> <p class="poetry">passing your hand over the branches one last time.&#8221;<n id="4" />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" />

<p class="bodytext">Therefore the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will now purify them in the fires of affliction<n id="2" /> and test them.p> <p class="poetry">The wickedness of my dear people<n id="3" /> has left me no choice.p> <p class="poetry">What else can I do?<n id="4" />p>

So then, listen to what I, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all,<n id="1" /> say.<n id="2" /> &#8216;I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> told me to say to this people,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Take note of what I say.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Call for the women who mourn for the dead!p> <p class="poetry">Summon those who are the most skilled at it!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>, who is the inheritance<n id="1" /> of Jacob&#8217;s descendants,<n id="2" /> is not like them.p> <p class="poetry">He is the one who created everything.p> <p class="poetry">And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">He is known as the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">So I said to the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;O <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="2" /> you are a just judge!p> <p class="poetry">You examine people&#8217;s hearts and minds.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I want to see you pay them back for what they have donep> <p class="poetry">because I trust you to vindicate my cause.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

So the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;I will surely<n id="2" /> punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle.<n id="3" /> Their sons and daughters will die of starvation.

<p class="poetry">As your words came to me I drank them in,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and they filled my heart with joy and happinessp> <p class="poetry">because I belong to you.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">O <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" /> you test and prove the righteous.p> <p class="poetry">You see into people&#8217;s hearts and minds.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Pay them back for what they have donep> <p class="poetry">because I trust you to vindicate my cause.p>

You must no longer say that the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s message is burdensome.<n id="1" /> For what is &#8216;burdensome&#8217;<n id="2" /> really pertains to what a person himself says.<n id="3" /> You are misrepresenting<n id="4" /> the words of our God, the living God, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="5" />