<p class="poetry">The birds of the sky live beside them;p> <p class="poetry">they chirp among the bushes.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Even though they have hired lovers among the nations,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will soon gather them together for judgment.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Then<n id="3" /> they will begin to waste awayp> <p class="poetry">under the oppression of a mighty king.<n id="4" />p>

You will be free from your oath<n id="1" /> if you go to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from your oath.&#8217;

Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered<n id="1" /> is to pay this: a half shekel<n id="2" /> according to the shekel of the sanctuary<n id="3" /> (a shekel weighs twenty gerahs). The half shekel is to be an offering<n id="4" /> to the <sc>Lordsc>.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits of these things that they give to the <sc>Lordsc>, I have given to you.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">Hear<n id="1" /> the sound of those who divide the sheep<n id="2" /> among the watering places;p> <p class="poetry">there they tell of<n id="3" /> the Lord&#8217;s victorious deeds,p> <p class="poetry">the victorious deeds of his warriors<n id="4" /> in Israel.p> <p class="poetry">Then the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s people went down to the city gates &#8211;p>

They did not audit the treasurers who disbursed<n id="1" /> the funds to the foremen, for they were honest.<n id="2" />

And let the king&#8217;s decision which he will enact be disseminated<n id="1" /> throughout all his kingdom, vast though it is.<n id="2" /> Then all the women will give honor to their husbands, from the most prominent to the lowly.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">All nations gather together,p> <p class="poetry">the peoples assemble.p> <p class="poetry">Who among them announced this?p> <p class="poetry">Who predicted earlier events for us?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Let them produce their witnesses to testify they were right;p> <p class="poetry">let them listen and affirm, &#8216;It is true.&#8217;p>

Then Jeremiah answered, &#8220;You will not be handed over to them. Please obey the <sc>Lordsc> by doing what I have been telling you.<n id="1" /> Then all will go well with you and your life will be spared.<n id="2" />

All prostitutes receive payment,<n id="1" /> but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors!

of the land. This will be his property in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people, but the land will be allotted to the house of Israel according to their tribes.p>

<p class="poetry">Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God;p> <p class="poetry">because a spirit of idolatry<n id="1" /> controls their heart,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and they do not acknowledge the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="bodytext">David said to Achish, &#8220;If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?&#8221;

I said to the king, &#8220;If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates<n id="1" /> that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah,

<p class="bodytext">To you this entire prophetic revelation<n id="1" /> is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read<n id="2" /> and say, &#8220;Read this,&#8221; he responds, &#8220;I can&#8217;t, because it is sealed.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">Do any of the worthless idols<n id="1" /> of the nations cause rain to fall?p> <p class="poetry">Do the skies themselves send showers?p> <p class="poetry">Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So we put our hopes in you<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">because you alone do all this.&#8221;p>

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians.<n id="1" /> The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.&#8221;<n id="2" />

&#8216;for there will be a peaceful time of sowing, the vine will produce its fruit and the ground its yield, and the skies<n id="1" /> will rain down dew. Then I will allow the remnant of my people to possess all these things.

For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high.<n id="1" /> For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth;<n id="2" /> they will be among mere mortals,<n id="3" /> with those who descend to the pit.p>