They said to him, &#8220;Please sit down and read it to us.&#8221; So Baruch sat down and read it to them.<n id="1" />

The <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> began to speak to him<n id="2" /> in the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon ruled over Judah.

Jeremiah answered, &#8220;That&#8217;s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.&#8221;<n id="1" /> But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.

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.

Then Jeremiah said to them, &#8220;You sent me to the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel to make your request known to him. Here is what he says to you:<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">I will punish the god Bel in Babylon.p> <p class="poetry">I will make him spit out what he has swallowed.p> <p class="poetry">The nations will not come streaming to him any longer.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Who has a word from the <sc>Lordsc> that can explain it?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Why does the land lie in ruins?p> <p class="poetry">Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?&#8221;p>

But the next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. When he did, Jeremiah said to him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s name for you is not &#8216;Pashhur&#8217; but &#8216;Terror is Everywhere.&#8217;<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah<n id="1" /> when King Zedekiah<n id="2" /> sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah.<n id="3" /> Zedekiah sent them to Jeremiah to ask,<n id="4" />

The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel told Jeremiah<n id="1" /> to go and give King Zedekiah of Judah a message. He told Jeremiah<n id="2" /> to tell him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I am going to<n id="3" /> hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down.

<p class="bodytext">So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Then Jeremiah dictated to Baruch everything the <sc>Lordsc> had told him to say and Baruch wrote it all down in a scroll.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Some time later<n id="1" /> Zedekiah sent and had Jeremiah brought to him at the third entrance<n id="2" /> of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. The king said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I would like to ask you a question. Do not hide anything from me when you answer.&#8221;<n id="3" />

They said to him, &#8220;Are you at all aware<n id="1" /> that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?&#8221; But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them.

We will obey what the <sc>Lordsc> our God to whom we are sending you tells us to do. It does not matter whether we like what he tells us or not. We will obey what he tells us to do so that things will go well for us.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Tell Baruch,<n id="2" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I am about to tear down what I have built and to uproot what I have planted. I will do this throughout the whole earth.<n id="3" />