The Lord who rules over all said, "I will kill all the archers of Elam, who are the chief source of her military might.

All who encountered them devoured them. Their enemies who did this said, 'We are not liable for punishment! For those people have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture. They have sinned against the Lord in whom their ancestors trusted.'

Give the signal to attack Babylon's wall! Bring more guards! Post them all around the city! Put men in ambush! For the Lord will do what he has planned. He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon.

Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read aloud all these prophecies.

(Pe) All your enemies gloated over you. They sneered and gnashed their teeth; they said, "We have destroyed her! Ha! We have waited a long time for this day. We have lived to see it!"

So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord."

"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

You came near on the day I called to you; you said, "Do not fear!"

He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet and I will speak with you."

He said to me, "Son of man, I am sending you to the house of Israel, to rebellious nations who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted against me to this very day.

He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you see in front of you -- eat this scroll -- and then go and speak to the house of Israel."

He said to me, "Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you." So I ate it, and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

He said to me, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.

And he said to me, "Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully.

The hand of the Lord rested on me there, and he said to me, "Get up, go out to the valley, and I will speak with you there."

Then a wind came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord spoke to me and said, "Go shut yourself in your house.

And the Lord said, "This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I will banish them."

And I said, "Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat has never entered my mouth."

So he said to me, "All right then, I will substitute cow's manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it."

Then he said to me, "Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

He said to me, "Son of man, look up toward the north." So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.

He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing -- the great abominations that the people of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!"

He said to me, "Son of man, dig into the wall." So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.

He said to me, "Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here."

He said to me, "Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? For they think, 'The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!'"

He said to me, "You will see them practicing even greater abominations!"

He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!"

He said to me, "Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose!

The Lord said to him, "Go through the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it."

While I listened, he said to the others, "Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare anyone!

He said to them, "Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!" So they went out and struck people down throughout the city.

He said to me, "The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of murder, and the city is full of corruption, for they say, 'The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!'

The Lord said to the man dressed in linen, "Go between the wheelwork underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city." He went as I watched.

The Lord said to me, "Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said to me, "Say: This is what the Lord says: 'This is what you are thinking, O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds.

"Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, 'They have gone far away from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.'

"Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, said to you, 'What are you doing?'

"'I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, "Live!" I said to you as you lay there in your blood, "Live!"

I said to them, "Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God."

"'But I said to their children in the wilderness, "Do not follow the practices of your fathers; do not observe their regulations, nor defile yourselves with their idols.

So I said to them, What is this high place you go to?'" (So it is called "High Place" to this day.)

Then I said, "O sovereign Lord! They are saying of me, 'Does he not simply speak in eloquent figures of speech?'"

The Lord said to me: "Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds!

Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, 'Now they will commit immoral acts with her.'

Then the people said to me, "Will you not tell us what these things you are doing mean for us?"

So I said to them: "The word of the Lord came to me:

Say to the Ammonites, 'Hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: You said "Aha!" about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile.

"Son of man, because Tyre has said about Jerusalem, 'Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I will become rich, now that she has been destroyed,'

Say to Tyre, who sits at the entrance of the sea, merchant to the peoples on many coasts, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'O Tyre, you have said, "I am perfectly beautiful."

"Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'Your heart is proud and you said, "I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas" -- yet you are a man and not a god, though you think you are godlike.

Tell them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the midst of its waterways, who has said, "My Nile is my own, I made it for myself."

The land of Egypt will become a desolate ruin. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Because he said, "The Nile is mine and I made it,"

"And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'This is what you have said: "Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?"'

"'You said, "These two nations, these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them," -- although the Lord was there --

But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.'

He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said to him, "Sovereign Lord, you know."

Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and tell them: 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, -- prophesy, son of man -- and say to the breath: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.'"

Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, 'Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.'

The man said to me, "Son of man, watch closely, listen carefully, and pay attention to everything I show you, for you have been brought here so that I can show it to you. Tell the house of Israel everything you see."

He said to me, "This chamber which faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple,

Then he measured its length as 35 feet, and its width as 35 feet, before the outer sanctuary. He said to me, "This is the most holy place."

The altar was of wood, 5? feet high, with its length 3? feet; its corners, its length, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, "This is the table that is before the Lord."

Then he said to me, "The north chambers and the south chambers which face the courtyard are holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings -- the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, because the place is holy.

He said to me: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die.

Then he said to me: "Son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: These are the statutes of the altar: On the day it is built to offer up burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it,

The Lord said to me: "This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut.

The Lord said to me: "Son of man, pay attention, watch closely and listen carefully to everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord's house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary.

He said to me, "This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they will bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out to the outer court to transmit holiness to the people."

Then he said to me, "These are the houses for boiling, where the ministers of the temple boil the sacrifices of the people."

He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river.

He said to me, "These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the Arabah; when they enter the Dead Sea, where the sea is stagnant, the waters become fresh.

Then Daniel went in to see Arioch (whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon). He came and said to him, "Don't destroy the wise men of Babylon! Escort me to the king, and I will disclose the interpretation to him!"

They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever!

Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don't serve my gods and that you don't pay homage to the golden statue that I erected?

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, "Wasn't it three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied to the king, "For sure, O king."

Then Daniel (whose name is also Belteshazzar) was upset for a brief time; his thoughts were alarming him. The king said, "Belteshazzar, don't let the dream and its interpretation alarm you." But Belteshazzar replied, "Sir, if only the dream were for your enemies and its interpretation applied to your adversaries!

They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven rules.

Due to the noise caused by the king and his nobles, the queen mother then entered the banquet room. She said, "O king, live forever! Don't be alarmed! Don't be shaken!

So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel, "Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives of Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah?

So these supervisors and satraps came by collusion to the king and said to him, "O King Darius, live forever!

So they approached the king and said to him, "Did you not issue an edict to the effect that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human other than to you, O king, would be thrown into a den of lions?" The king replied, "That is correct, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed."

Then they said to the king, "Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the edict that you issued. Three times daily he offers his prayer."

Then those men came by collusion to the king and said to him, "Recall, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or decree that the king issues can be changed."

Then I heard a holy one speaking. Another holy one said to the one who was speaking, "To what period of time does the vision pertain -- this vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the destructive act of rebellion and the giving over of both the sanctuary and army to be trampled?"

He said to me, "To 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be put right again."

So he approached the place where I was standing. As he came, I felt terrified and fell flat on the ground. Then he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision pertains to the time of the end."

Then he said, "I am going to inform you about what will happen in the latter time of wrath, for the vision pertains to the appointed time of the end.

He said to me, "Daniel, you are of great value. Understand the words that I am about to speak to you. So stand up, for I have now been sent to you." When he said this to me, I stood up shaking.

Then he said to me, "Don't be afraid, Daniel, for from the very first day you applied your mind to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words.

He said to me, "Don't be afraid, you who are valued. Peace be to you! Be strong! Be really strong!" When he spoke to me, I was strengthened. I said, "Sir, you may speak now, for you have given me strength."

He said, "Do you know why I have come to you? Now I am about to return to engage in battle with the prince of Persia. When I go, the prince of Greece is coming.

One said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, "When will the end of these wondrous events occur?"

I heard, but I did not understand. So I said, "Sir, what will happen after these things?"

He said, "Go, Daniel. For these matters are closed and sealed until the time of the end.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, "Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the Lord."

Then the Lord said to Hosea, "Name him 'Jezreel,' because in a little while I will punish the dynasty of Jehu on account of the bloodshed in the valley of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, "Name her 'No Pity' (Lo-Ruhamah) because I will no longer have pity on the nation of Israel. For I will certainly not forgive their guilt.

Then the Lord said: "Name him 'Not My People' (Lo-Ammi), because you are not my people and I am not your God."

However, in the future the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although it was said to them, "You are not my people," it will be said to them, "You are children of the living God!"