He told them: "You are the leaders of the Levites' families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves and bring the ark of the Lord God of Israel up to the place I have prepared for it.

"Go, tell my servant David: 'This is what the Lord says: "You must not build me a house in which to live.

David said, "My son Solomon is just an inexperienced young man, and the temple to be built for the Lord must be especially magnificent so it will become famous and be considered splendid by all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for its construction." So David made extensive preparations before he died.

But the Lord said to me: 'You have spilled a great deal of blood and fought many battles. You must not build a temple to honor me, for you have spilled a great deal of blood on the ground before me.

But God said to me, 'You must not build a temple to honor me, for you are a warrior and have spilled blood.'

Look, I am ready to build a temple to honor the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him in order to burn fragrant incense before him, to set out the bread that is regularly displayed, and to offer burnt sacrifices each morning and evening, and on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and at other times appointed by the Lord our God. This is something Israel must do on a permanent basis.

You must serve me as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations.

Solomon moved Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, "My wife must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy."

Now the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, "Look, the prophets are in complete agreement that the king will succeed. Your words must agree with theirs; you must predict success!"

The king said to him, "How many times must I make you solemnly promise in the name of the Lord to tell me only the truth?"

When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, "He must be the king of Israel!" So they turned and attacked him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. The Lord helped him; God lured them away from him.

Whenever your countrymen who live in the cities bring a case before you (whether it involves a violent crime or other matters related to the law, commandments, rules, and regulations), warn them that they must not sin against the Lord. If you fail to do so, God will be angry with you and your colleagues; but if you obey, you will be free of guilt.

This is what you must do. One third of you priests and Levites who are on duty during the Sabbath will guard the doors.

No one must enter the Lord's temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the Lord.

The Levites must surround the king. Each of you must hold his weapon in his hand. Whoever tries to enter the temple must be killed. You must accompany the king wherever he goes."

However, he did not execute their sons. He obeyed the Lord's commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, "Fathers must not be executed for what their sons do, and sons must not be executed for what their fathers do. A man must be executed only for his own sin."

But a prophet visited him and said: "O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites.

Hezekiah is the one who eliminated the Lord's high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, "At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices."

Anyone who survives in any of those places where he is a resident foreigner must be helped by his neighbors with silver, gold, equipment, and animals, along with voluntary offerings for the temple of God which is in Jerusalem.'"

Whatever is needed -- whether oxen or rams or lambs or burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by the priests who are in Jerusalem -- must be given to them daily without any neglect,

There were those who said, "With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain grain in order to eat and stay alive."

I said to them, "The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes."

Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep, that you must put me under guard?

that you must search out my iniquity, and inquire about my sin,

Surely mockery is with me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

"How long until you make an end of words? You must consider, and then we can talk.

His sons must recompense the poor; his own hands must return his wealth.

Is it your opinion that God should recompense it, because you reject this? But you must choose, and not I, so tell us what you know.

And he reveals this for correction, and says that they must turn from evil.

Do you count the months they must fulfill, and do you know the time they give birth?

How long must I worry, and suffer in broad daylight? How long will my enemy gloat over me?

Even when I must walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff reassure me.

I will pray to God, my high ridge: "Why do you ignore me? Why must I walk around mourning because my enemies oppress me?"

For you are the God who shelters me. Why do you reject me? Why must I walk around mourning because my enemies oppress me?

There must be no other god among you. You must not worship a foreign god.

I will listen to what God the Lord says. For he will make peace with his people, his faithful followers. Yet they must not return to their foolish ways.

Take note, O Lord, of the way your servants are taunted, and of how I must bear so many insults from people!

Turn back toward us, O Lord! How long must this suffering last? Have pity on your servants!

How long must your servant endure this? When will you judge those who pursue me?

Even when I must walk in the midst of danger, you revive me. You oppose my angry enemies, and your right hand delivers me.

Yet if he is caught he must repay seven times over, he might even have to give all the wealth of his house.

If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage, but if you are a mocker, you alone must bear it.

The divine verdict is in the words of the king, his pronouncements must not act treacherously against justice.

So I loathed all the fruit of my effort, for which I worked so hard on earth, because I must leave it behind in the hands of my successor.

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; however, he must hand over the fruit of his labor as an inheritance to someone else who did not work for it. This also is futile, and an awful injustice!

If an iron axhead is blunt and a workman does not sharpen its edge, he must exert a great deal of effort; so wisdom has the advantage of giving success.

The Beloved to Her Lover: "I have already taken off my robe -- must I put it on again? I have already washed my feet -- must I soil them again?"

You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. He is the one you must respect; he is the one you must fear.

Then you must recall the Lord's instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.

Prepare to execute his sons for the sins their ancestors have committed. They must not rise up and take possession of the earth, or fill the surface of the world with cities."

For this is what the sovereign master has told me: "Go, post a guard! He must report what he sees.

When he sees chariots, teams of horses, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, very alert."

Come near, you nations, and listen! Pay attention, you people! The earth and everything it contains must listen, the world and everything that lives in it.

Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

Perhaps you will tell me, 'We are trusting in the Lord our God.' But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at this altar.'

Certainly you must have heard! Long ago I worked it out, in ancient times I planned it, and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins.

"I thought, 'In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol, I am deprived of the rest of my years.'

Every valley must be elevated, and every mountain and hill leveled. The rough terrain will become a level plain, the rugged landscape a wide valley.

The rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return, but instead water the earth and make it produce and yield crops, and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, but you do not say, 'I give up.' You get renewed energy, so you don't collapse.

Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond; you will cry out, and he will reply, 'Here I am.' You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

You must actively help the hungry and feed the oppressed. Then your light will dispel the darkness, and your darkness will be transformed into noonday.

You must observe the Sabbath rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. You must look forward to the Sabbath and treat the Lord's holy day with respect. You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities, and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals.

However, you must confess that you have done wrong, and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,' says the Lord.

"If you, Israel, want to come back," says the Lord, "if you want to come back to me you must get those disgusting idols out of my sight and must no longer go astray.

You must be truthful, honest and upright when you take an oath saying, 'As surely as the Lord lives!' If you do, the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are and will make him the object of their boasting."

Yes, the Lord has this to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: "Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground, you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning; just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted, you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives.

Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment, you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you that no one will be able to extinguish. That will happen because of the evil you have done."

"How long must I see the enemy's battle flags and hear the military signals of their bugles?"

"So then, Jeremiah, when your people ask, 'Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?' tell them, 'It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So you must serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.'

You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly.

Everyone must be on his guard around his friends. He must not even trust any of his relatives. For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion. They will wail, 'We are utterly ruined! We are completely disgraced! For our houses have been torn down and we must leave our land.'"

Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field. They cannot talk. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them because they cannot hurt you. And they do not have any power to help you."

How long must the land be parched and the grass in every field be withered? How long must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? For these people boast, "God will not see what happens to us."

But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people. Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal. But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, "As surely as the Lord lives, I swear." If they do these things, then they will be included among the people I call my own.

Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish? Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound? Will you let me down when I need you like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?"

Because of this, the Lord said, "You must repent of such words and thoughts! If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless, I will again allow you to be my spokesman. They must become as you have been. You must not become like them.

So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.'"

The Lord says, 'You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day.

But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.'"

For whenever I prophesy, I must cry out, "Violence and destruction are coming!" This message from the Lord has made me an object of continual insults and derision.

Say: 'Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David's succession. You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the Lord says.

You must no longer say that the Lord's message is burdensome. For what is 'burdensome' really pertains to what a person himself says. You are misrepresenting the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all.

But just suppose you continue to say, 'The message of the Lord is burdensome.' Here is what the Lord says will happen: 'I sent word to you that you must not say, "The Lord's message is burdensome." But you used the words "The Lord's message is burdensome" anyway.

He said through them, 'Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession.

all the kings of the north, whether near or far from one another; and all the other kingdoms which are on the face of the earth. After all of them have drunk the wine of the Lord's wrath, the king of Babylon must drink it.

If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, tell them that the Lord who rules over all says 'You most certainly must drink it!

Tell them that the Lord says, 'You must obey me! You must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws.

You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. But you have not paid any attention to them.

All nations must serve him and his son and grandson until the time comes for his own nation to fall. Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon.

Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children. They are the children I take delight in. For even though I must often rebuke them, I still remember them with fondness. So I am deeply moved with pity for them and will surely have compassion on them. I, the Lord, affirm it!

King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face.

You yourself will not escape his clutches, but will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You must confront the king of Babylon face to face and answer to him personally. Then you must go to Babylon.

"Every seven years each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you for six years, you shall set them free." But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention to me.

But they answered, "We do not drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us not to. He told us, 'You and your children must never drink wine.

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all told him, "Go and speak to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them, 'I, the Lord, say: "You must learn a lesson from this about obeying what I say!

When they had heard it all, they expressed their alarm to one another. Then they said to Baruch, "We must certainly give the king a report about everything you have read!"

Then the officials said to Baruch, "You and Jeremiah must go and hide. You must not let anyone know where you are."

So these officials said to the king, "This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. This man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them."