Jeremiah said, "There is," and then he said, "You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon." Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, "What offense have I committed against you, your officials, or these people that you have put me in prison?

Now, please listen, your majesty, and pay attention to what I'm asking you. Don't make me go back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, so I don't die there."

King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to him at the third entrance to the LORD's Temple. The king told Jeremiah, "I'm going to ask you something, and don't hide anything from me."

Jeremiah told Zedekiah, "When I tell you, you will surely put me to death, won't you? And when I give you advice, you don't listen to me."

Then King Zedekiah told Jeremiah, "I'm afraid of the Judeans who have gone over to the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans may turn me over to them, and they may treat me harshly."

Jeremiah said, "They won't turn you over. Obey the LORD in what I'm telling you, and it will go well for you and you will live.

But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has shown me:

then you are to say to them, "I was presenting my request to the king that I not be taken back to the house of Jonathan to die there.'"

"Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Look, I'm going to fulfill my promise against this city for disaster rather than for good, and on that day it will happen before your eyes.

For I'll surely deliver you, and you won't fall by the sword. Your life will be spared because you trusted me," declares the LORD.'"

Now, look, I've freed you today from the chains that were on your hands. If you want to come with me to Babylon, come, and I'll look after you. But if you don't want to come with me to Babylon, don't. Look, the whole land lies before you, so go wherever it seems good and right for you to go."

As for me, I'll remain at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil. Put it in your containers and live in your cities that you have taken over."

Then Kareah's son Jonathan spoke privately to Gedaliah at Mizpah: "Let me go kill Nethaniah's son Ishmael, and no one will know. Why should he take your life? Otherwise all the Judeans who have gathered around you will be scattered, and the remnant of Judah will perish."

Pray that the LORD your God may inform us as to how we should live and what we should do."

Jeremiah the prophet told them, "I've heard, and I'm going to pray to the LORD your God just as you have requested. Whatever the LORD answers, I'll tell you. I won't withhold anything from you."

Then they told Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we don't do everything that the LORD your God tells us through you.

Whether it seems good or bad, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we send you, so it may go well for us. Indeed, we will obey the LORD our God."

He told them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says, to whom you sent me to take your request:

"If you will just remain in this land, I'll build you up and not pull you down. I'll plant you and not uproot you, for I'm sorry about the disaster I've brought on you.

For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, ridicule, and scorn, and you will never again see this place.'

that you have deceived yourselves. Indeed, you yourselves sent me to the LORD your God, saying, "Pray to the LORD your God for us, and whatever the LORD our God tells us we will do.'

I've told you today, but you haven't obeyed the LORD your God in all that he sent me to tell you.

Then say to them, "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I'm going to send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I'll take him and set his throne over these stones that I've buried, and he will spread his canopy over them.

because of the wickedness that they did, provoking me to anger by continuing to offer sacrifices and worship other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors had known.

Yet I sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again, saying, "Don't do this repulsive thing that I hate."

My wrath and my anger were poured out, and they burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem so that they have become a ruin and a desolate place, as is the case today.'

And why have you provoked me to anger by the works of your hands, by offering sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle so that you cut yourselves off and become an object of ridicule and scorn among all the nations of the earth?

To this day they haven't humbled themselves, they haven't shown reverence for the LORD, and they haven't lived according to my Law and my statutes that I set before them and before their ancestors.'

But listen to this message from the LORD, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. "Look, I've sworn by my great name', says the LORD, "my name will no longer be invoked by the mouth of any person in the entire land of Egypt, as he says, "As surely as the Lord GOD lives""

""Look, I'm watching over them to bring disaster rather than good. Every person of Judah in the land of Egypt will be brought to an end by the sword and by famine until they're completely gone.

This will be a sign to you,' declares the LORD, "that I'll punish you in this place so that you may know that my words concerning disaster against you will surely stand.'

This is what the LORD says: "Look, I'm going to give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies and into the hands of those seeking his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking his life."

"You have said, "How terrible for me, for the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I'm weary with my groaning, and I haven't found rest."'

Say this to him: "This is what the LORD says: "Look! What I've built I'm about to tear down, and what I've planted I'm about to pull up and this will involve the entire land."

Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don't seek them. Indeed, I'm about to bring disaster on all flesh,' declares the LORD, "but your life will be spared wherever you go.'"

As certainly as I'm alive and living," declares the King, whose name is the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "Indeed, one will come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel says, "Look, I'm going to punish Amon of Thebes, Pharaoh, Egypt, its gods and its kings, Pharaoh, and those who trust in him.

"As for you, my servant Jacob, don't be afraid, and Israel, don't be dismayed. For I'll deliver you from a distant place, and your descendants from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return. He will be undisturbed and secure, and no one will cause him to fear.

"As for you, my servant Jacob, don't be afraid, and Israel, don't be dismayed," declares the LORD, "for I am with you. Indeed, I'll make an end of all the nations where I scattered you; but I won't make an end of you! I'll discipline you justly, but I'll certainly not leave you unpunished."

Therefore my heart wails for Moab like flutes and my heart wails for the men of Kir-heres like flutes. Therefore they'll lose the abundance they produced.

Why do you boast in your valleys? Your valley is flowing away, faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, "Who will come against me?'

Look, I'm bringing terror on you from all around you," declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies. "You will be driven out, fleeing recklessly, and there will be no one to gather the fugitives.

Leave your orphans. I'll keep them alive. Let your widows trust in me."

Look, like a lion comes up from the thicket of the Jordan to a pasture that grows year round, so I'll drive them away from her in an instant, and I'll appoint whomever is chosen over her. Indeed, who is like me? Who gives me counsel? Who is the shepherd who will stand against me?"

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Look, I'm going to break the bow of Elam, the finest of their troops.

I'll put my throne in Elam, and destroy the king and the officials there," declares the LORD.

My people have become lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them toward the mountains. They go from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place.

Indeed, I'm going to stir up and bring against Babylon a great company of nations from the land of the north. They'll deploy for battle against her, and from there she will be captured. Their arrows will be like a skilled warrior; they won't miss their targets.

"Though you rejoice, though you exult, you plunderers of my inheritance, though you skip around like a heifer in the grass and neigh like stallions,

Therefore this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Look, I'm about to judge the king of Babylon and his land, just as I've judged the king of Assyria.

"Look, I'm against you, arrogant one," declares the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies. "Indeed your day is coming, the time of your judgment.

"Look, like a lion comes up from the thicket of the Jordan to a pasture that grows year round, so I'll drive them away from her in an instant, and I'll appoint whomever is chosen over her. Indeed, who is like me? Who gives me counsel? Who is the shepherd who will stand against me?"

This is what the LORD says: "Look, I'm going to stir up a destroying wind against Babylon and the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.

"You are my war-club and weapons of war. I'll smash nations with you and destroy kingdoms with you.

"Look, I'm against you, destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth," declares the LORD. "I'll stretch out my hand against you and roll you down from the crags. And I'll make you a burned-out mountain.

"King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me. He set me down like an empty vessel. He swallowed me like a monster, and filled his belly with my delicacies. Then he washed me away.

May the violence done to me and my flesh be on Babylon," says the inhabitant of Zion. "May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea," says Jerusalem.

Therefore this is what the LORD says: "Look, I'm going to argue your case and take vengeance for you. I'll dry up her sea and make her fountain dry.

"Come out of her, my people, flee for your lives from the LORD's anger!

Though Babylon should reach up to the heavens and fortify her high fortresses, from me destroyers will come to her," declares the LORD.

Then say, "Babylon will sink like this and won't rise from the disaster that I'm bringing on her. Her people will be exhausted.'" This concludes the writings of Jeremiah.

Uncleanness has soiled her skirts, and she gave no thought to what would follow. She fell in such a startling way, with no one to comfort her. Look, LORD, upon my affliction, because my enemy is boasting.

May it not befall you, all who pass along the road! Look and see: Is there any grief like my grief dealt out to me, by which the LORD afflicted me in the time of his fierce wrath?

He sent fire from on high, making it penetrate my bones. He stretched out a net at my feet, forcing me to turn back. He made me desolate; I'm fainting all day long.

The yoke of my sins was bound on, fastened together by his hand. They settled on my neck; he caused my strength to fail. The LORD placed me in the power of those I cannot resist.

He rejected all the valiant men the LORD, in my midst. He set a time to meet with me to crush my young warriors. The LORD has trampled, as in a winepress, the fair virgin that is Judah.

Because of all this, I weep; my eyes stream with tears because far from me is the comforter of my soul. My children are sorrowful, because the enemy has won.

The LORD is in the right, but I rebelled against his commands. Listen, please, all you people, and look at my pain my young men and women have gone into captivity.

I called out to my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders have died within the city while looking for something to eat to keep themselves alive.

Look, LORD, how distressed I am; all my insides are churning. My heart is troubled within me, because I vigorously rebelled. Outside the sword brings loss of life, while at home death rules.

People heard how I groan, with no one to comfort me. All my adversaries have heard about my troubles; they rejoice that you have caused them. Bring on the day you have promised, so my adversaries will become like me.

May all of their wickedness come to your attention, and deal with them as you have done with me because of all my transgressions. For I am constantly groaning, and my heart is faint.

My eyes are worn out from crying, my insides are churning, My emotions pour out in grief because my people are destroyed Children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

What can be said about you? To what should you be compared, fair Jerusalem? To what may I liken you, so I may comfort you, fair one of Zion? Indeed, your wound is as deep as the sea who can heal you?

Young men and the aged lie on the ground in the streets; my young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them in your anger, slaughtering them without pity.

You have invited those who terrorize me to come around, as if today were a festival. No one has escaped or survived the time of the LORD's anger. My enemy has finished off those whom I cuddled and raised.

He has led me brought me into darkness, not into light.

He truly turned his hand against me, again and again, all day long.

He made my flesh and skin prematurely old; he broke my bones.

He laid siege against me, surrounding me with bitterness and suffering.

He has forced me to live in darkness, like those who are long dead.

He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he placed heavy chains on me.

Indeed, when I cry out, calling for help, he shuts out my prayer.

He impeded my way with blocks of stone, making my paths uneven.

He is like a bear that lies in wait for me, a lion in hiding.

He forced me off my path, tearing me to pieces and making me desolate.

He bent his bow, aiming at me with his arrow.

He caused his war arrows to pierce my vital organs.

I have become a laughingstock to all my people, the object of their taunts throughout the day.

He has filled me with bitterness, making me drink wormwood.

He broke my teeth on gravel, covering me with dust.

You have removed peace from my life; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

So I say, "My strength is gone as is my hope in the LORD."

Remember my affliction and homelessness wormwood and gall!

My mind keeps reflecting on it, and I become depressed.

"The LORD is all I have," says my soul, "Therefore I will trust in him."

Let him fall face down in the dust, so there may yet be hope.

My eyes run with rivers of tears over the destruction of my cherished people.

My tears pour down ceaselessly; I am far from relief

What I see grieves my soul because of all the young women of my city.