This is what the Lord says: “Go, buy a potter’s clay jar. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests

Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to all the assembled people,

I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live!

In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur from Gibeon said to me in the temple of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people,

I set jars filled with wine and some cups before the sons of the house of the Rechabites and said to them, “Drink wine!”

However, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.

“Pick up some large stones and set them in the mortar of the brick pavement that is at the opening of Pharaoh’s palace at Tahpanhes. Do this in the sight of the Judean men

Moab has been left quiet since his youth,
settled like wine on its dregs.
He hasn’t been poured from one container to another
or gone into exile.
So his taste has remained the same,
and his aroma hasn’t changed.

If grape harvesters came to you,
wouldn’t they leave some gleanings?
Were thieves to come in the night,
they would destroy only what they wanted.

Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her defense towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished.
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance,
take out your vengeance on her;
as she has done, do the same to her.

Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all around her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds;
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel.

Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.’”

The words of Jeremiah end here.

Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.

But some of the poorest people of the land Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left to be vinedressers and farmers.

and had a bronze capital on top of it. One capital, encircled by bronze latticework and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates.