<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But you, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> get yourself ready!<n id="2" /> Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them.<n id="3" />

So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own,<n id="1" /> this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors,<n id="2" /> just like I destroyed Shiloh.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;As for you, Jeremiah,<n id="2" /> do not pray for these people! Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf! Do not plead with me to save them,<n id="3" /> because I will not listen to you.

<p class="poetry"><sc>Lordsc>, you have always been fairp> <p class="poetry">whenever I have complained to you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Why are wicked people successful?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?p>

<p class="poetry">But you, <sc>Lordsc>, know all about me.p> <p class="poetry">You watch me and test my devotion to you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!p> <p class="poetry">Appoint a time when they will be killed!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> answered,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out,p> <p class="poetry">how will you be able to compete with horses?p> <p class="poetry">And if you feel secure only<n id="2" /> in safe and open country,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River?<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">What will you say<n id="1" /> when the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> appoints as rulers over you those alliesp> <p class="poetry">that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then anguish and agony will grip youp> <p class="poetry">like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Why should you be like someone who is helpless,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like a champion<n id="2" /> who cannot save anyone?p> <p class="poetry">You are indeed with us,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and we belong to you.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not abandon us!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;You people have deserted me!p> <p class="poetry">You keep turning your back on me.&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So I have unleashed my power against you<n id="3" /> and have begun to destroy you.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">I have grown tired of feeling sorry for you!&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;<sc>Lordsc>, you know how I suffer.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Take thought of me and care for me.p> <p class="poetry">Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me.p> <p class="poetry">Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me.p> <p class="poetry">Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.p>

And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">But I have not pestered you to bring disaster.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You know that.p> <p class="poetry">You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken.<n id="3" />p>

Say: &#8216;Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David&#8217;s succession.<n id="1" /> You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Does it make you any more of a kingp> <p class="poetry">that you outstrip everyone else in<n id="1" /> building with cedar?p> <p class="poetry">Just think about your father.p> <p class="poetry">He was content that he had food and drink.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He did what was just and right.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">So things went well with him.p>

I will hand you over to those who want to take your life and of whom you are afraid. I will hand you over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his Babylonian<n id="1" /> soldiers.

There is no reason why you and your people should die in war<n id="1" /> or from starvation or disease!<n id="2" /> That&#8217;s what the <sc>Lordsc> says will happen to any nation<n id="3" /> that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you<n id="2" /> listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

So the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;I will most assuredly remove<n id="1" /> you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counseled rebellion against the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">I have indeed<n id="1" /> heard the people of Israel<n id="2" /> say mournfully,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;We were like a calf untrained to the yoke.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">You disciplined us and we learned from it.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Let us come back to you and we will do so,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">for you are the <sc>Lordsc> our God.p>

The city is sure to fall into the hands of the Babylonians.<n id="1" /> Yet, in spite of this,<n id="2" /> you, Lord <sc>Godsc>,<n id="3" /> have said to me, &#8220;Buy that field with silver and have the transaction legally witnessed.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="4" />p>