The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. ¹  Who can understand it?

“Hazor will become a permanent wasteland, a place where only jackals live. ¹  No one will live there. No human being will settle in it.” ² 

The Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, ²  and whose hearts ³  have turned away from the Lord.

So,” the Lord God ¹  says, “my raging fury will be poured out on this land. ²  It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. ³  And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.”

Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns that were around them. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord.

I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there. ¹  No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord. ² 

Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for such things. For I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that I am about to bring disaster on all humanity. ²  But I will allow you to escape with your life ³  wherever you go.”’”

I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, ¹  people and animals alike! They will die from terrible diseases.

“I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘You and your people are saying ²  about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ³  will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places.

“Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people. They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. ¹  They set deadly traps ²  to catch people.

Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. ¹  It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them. ² 

“Indeed, a time is coming,” ¹  says the Lord, ²  “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah. ³ 

You and your people ¹  are saying that this land will become desolate, uninhabited by either people or animals. You are saying that it will be handed over to the Babylonians. ²  But fields ³  will again be bought in this land. ⁴ 

Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says, “The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere like manure scattered on a field. They will lie scattered on the ground like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’” ¹ 

“I, the Lord who rules over all, say: ¹  ‘This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep.

For a nation from the north ¹  will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’

Then say, ‘O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!’

Tell King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘The Lord says, “You burned the scroll. You asked ¹  Jeremiah, ‘How dare you write in this scroll that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and wipe out all the people and animals on it?’” ²