Watch! I will make the shadow on the steps of the upper dial of Ahaz that marks the sun go ten steps backwards."'" Then the sunlight turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had gone down.

Yes, it was for my own good that I suffered extreme anguish. But in love you have held back my life from the Pit in which it has been confined; you have tossed all my sins behind your back.

"But stand up now with your spells and your many incantations, at which you have labored from your childhood until today,

"This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who directs you in the path by which you should go.

This is what the LORD says: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look! It's because of your sins that you were sold, and because of your transgressions that your mother was sent away.

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD! Look to the rock from which you were cut, to the quarry from which you were hewn.

so will my message be that goes out of my mouth it won't return to me empty. Instead, it will accomplish what I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

"The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: "I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies; never again will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have toiled;

"The priests didn't say, "Where is the LORD?' and those handling the Law didn't know me. The rulers transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they followed that which does not profit.

Has a nation ever changed gods when they aren't even gods? But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.

"They'll devour your harvest and your food. They'll devour your sons and your daughters. They'll devour your vines and your fig trees. With their swords they'll batter down your fortified cities in which you trust.

Just as I did to Shiloh, I'll do to the house in which you trust and which is called by my name, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

They'll be spread out to the sun, the moon, and all the stars of the heavens, which they loved and served, and which they followed, consulted, and worshipped. Their bones won't be collected, nor will they be buried. They'll be like dung on the surface of the ground.

which I commanded to your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace. I said, "Obey me and do everything that I commanded you. Then you will be my people and I'll be your God.'

They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors of old who refused to listen to my words. They followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke my covenant which I made with their ancestors."

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "I'm about to bring disaster on them from which they won't be able to escape. They'll cry out to me, but I won't listen to them.

Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a strong man who can't deliver? You are among us, LORD, and your name is the one by which we're called. Don't abandon us!

Rather it will be said, "As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the LORD had banished them.' I'll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors.

LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of difficulty, to you the nations will come, and from the ends of the earth they'll say, "Surely our ancestors inherited deception, things that are worthless, and in which there is no profit."

You will let go of your inheritance which I gave you, and I'll make you serve your enemies in a land that you don't know. For with my anger you have started a fire that will burn forever.

But if that nation about which I spoke turns from its evil way, I'll change my mind about the disaster that I had planned for it.

I'll cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and people will eat the flesh of their neighbors in the siege and in the distress to which their enemies and those seeking their lives will subject them."'"

and say to them, "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "In this same way I'll break this people and this city, just as someone breaks a potter's vessel which he then cannot put back together again. They'll bury corpses in Topheth until there is no more room to bury anyone.

Let the day on which I was born be cursed. Don't let the day on which my mother gave birth to me be blessed.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "I'm about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. I'll gather them into the center of this city.

As for the land to which you want to return, you won't return there!

In his time Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell in safety. This is the name by which he will be known: "The LORD Our Righteousness.'

I'll make them into a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth; into a cause for contempt, into a byword, into a taunt, and into a curse in all the places to which I drive them.

I'll send the sword, famine, and plague against them until they're completely destroyed from the land which I gave them and their ancestors.'"

I'll bring on that land all the things I spoke against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied about the nations.

Say to them, "This is what the LORD says: "If you don't listen to me to follow my Law which I've set before you,

Seek the welfare of the city to which I've exiled you and pray to the LORD for it, for your welfare depends on its welfare.'

I'll be found by you,' declares the LORD, "and I'll restore your security and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I've driven you,' declares the LORD. "I'll bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.'

I'll pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague, and I'll make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. I'll make them a curse, an object of horror, and scorn, and a desolation in all the nations to which I've driven them,

They'll come crying, and I'll lead them as they pray for mercy. I'll make them walk by streams of water, along a straight path on which they won't stumble. For I am Israel's father, and Ephraim is my firstborn."

And you gave them this land which you had promised their ancestors that you would give them a land flowing with milk and honey.

"Now therefore," says the LORD God of Israel, "concerning this city about which you are saying, "It is being given into the control of the king of Babylon by sword, famine, and plague,'

Fields will be bought in this land about which you will say, "It is a desolate place without people or animals. It is given into the hands of the Chaldeans."

I'll cleanse them from all their sin that they have committed against me, and I'll forgive all their sins that they committed against me and by which they rebelled against me.

"This is what the LORD says: "You are saying about this place, "It is a ruin without people and without animals." Yet in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem which are desolate places without inhabitants and without animals, there will again be heard

I brought them to the LORD's Temple to the office of the descendants of Igdaliah's son Hanan, the man of God, which was next to the office of the officials, and which was above the office of Shallum's son Maaseiah, the keeper of the threshold.

As Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut it with a scribe's knife and throw it into the fire which was in the stove, until all the scroll was burned in the fire in the stove.

"Go back, take another scroll and write on it all the original words which were on the scroll that Jehoiakim, king of Judah, burned.

I'll punish him, his descendants, and his officials for their iniquity. I'll bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the calamity about which I've warned them, but they would not listen."'"

To Egypt: Concerning the army of King Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, which was encamped by the Euphrates River at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah.

I'll bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I'll scatter them to all these winds. There will be no nation to which the exiles from Elam won't go.

Her cities will become an object of horror, a dry land and a desert, a land in which no one lives, and through which no human being passes.

There was too much bronze to weigh in the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze oxen that were under the sea, and the stands which King Solomon had made for the LORD's Temple.

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?

The guilt of my cherished people surpasses the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, without a hand to help her.

Whenever the four moved, no matter which of four directions, they moved without turning around.

and underneath the canopy, their wings spread out straight over their heads toward each other. They each also had two wings with which they covered themselves, one wing covering its body on one side and one wing covering itself on the other side.

"Furthermore, you are to take some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in one container. Then you are to make bread from these grains sufficient to supply you through the time during which you'll be sleeping on your side. You are to eat it for 390 days.

You are to burn a third of it in the middle of the city when you've finished your siege. Next, you are to take another third of it and beat it with your sword. Last, you are to scatter the remaining third to the wind, after which I'll unsheathe my sword and pursue them.

I'll send arrows of severe famine in their direction, meant for destruction, which I'll shoot, intending to destroy them. I'll make you have more and more famines that will attack you, and I'll disrupt your source of food.

Then he brought me to the entrance of the gate to the LORD's Temple, which faced the north. That's where I saw women seated, weeping for Tammuz.

All of a sudden, I noticed six men approaching from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north. Each of them held a destructive weapon in his hand. Among them there was one man, clothed in linen, who was equipped with a writing set at his side. They went in and presented themselves beside the bronze altar.

Then the glory that is Israel's God arose from the cherubim on which he had been seated and settled on the threshold of the Temple. He called out to the man dressed in linen who wore the writing case at his side.

Then a cherub stretched out his hand to the fire, which was among the cherubim, took some of the fire, and placed it in the hands of the one clothed in white linen, who took it and left.

"Therefore you are to say, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "Although I've removed them far away to live among the nations, and although I've scattered them throughout the earth, yet I've continued to be their sanctuary, even for the short time that they will be living in the lands to which they've gone."'

"Therefore you are to say, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm going to gather you from among the nations, assembling you from the lands among which you have been dispersed. I'll give you the land of Israel.

""Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says, "Watch out! I'm opposing your amulets with which you hunt souls as one would swat at a flying insect. I'll tear them off your arms and then deliver those people, whom you've hunted like birds.

Your fame spread throughout the nations because of your beauty. You were perfectly beautiful due to my splendor with which I endowed you," declares the Lord GOD.

You took some of your clothes and made gaily-colored high places and prostituted yourself all around them something which had never happened before nor will ever happen again.

"Not only that, you took the food I gave you my fine flour, olive oil, and honey with which I fed you, and you offered them to those gods in order to appease them. That's exactly what happened," says the Lord GOD.

I'll judge you with the same standards by which I issue verdicts against a woman who commits adultery and murder. I'll avenge the blood you've shed with impassioned wrath.

But if the wicked person turns from all his sins, which he did and keeps my statutes, then he'll live. He won't die.

Stop your transgressing the deeds by which you've rebelled and then make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, you house of Israel?

where I gave them my statutes and revealed my ordinances to them, which if a person observes, he'll live by them.

"But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn't live by my statutes. They despised my ordinances, which if a person observes, he'll live by them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my anger on them and bring them to an end in the wilderness.

"But they rebelled against me. They didn't live according to my statutes, observe my ordinances, or practice them, by which a person will live. They also kept profaning my Sabbaths. So I said that I was going to pour out my anger on them and in my anger I'm going to bring about a complete end to them in the wilderness.

So I gave them statutes that weren't good and ordinances by which they could not live.

So I asked them, "What is the high place to which you're going?' That's why the name of the place has been called Bamah to this day."'

You'll remember all your practices and evil actions by which you've become defiled. You'll loathe yourselves because of all the evil things you've done.

"Now, Son of Man, demarcate two pathways by which the sword of Babylon's king will arrive in the land. Both pathways will lead from a single land.

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "You'll drink from your sister's cup, which is both large and deep. You'll become a laughing stock and an object of derision, since the cup is so full!

then sat down on an elegant bed. A table was arranged in front of it, on which you set out my incense and oil.

therefore you'd better look out! I'm going to turn you over to men from the East, who will dominate you. You will become their property. They will set up military encampments and permanent places in which to live among you, and then they'll eat your fruit and drink your milk.

"When I gather the house of Israel from the nations to which I've scattered them, I will show them my holiness before the watching world, and they will live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob. They will live in safety in the land, building houses and planting vineyards. They'll live in safety while I judge everyone who maligns them among those who surround them. At that time they'll learn that I am the LORD their God.'"

I'll restore the economy of Egypt and return them to the land of Pathros, from which they originated, and there they will remain an insignificant kingdom,

So tell me now, which of the trees of Eden compares to you in glory or greatness? Nevertheless, you'll be brought down, along with those trees of Eden, to the earth below. You'll lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who have been killed in war. Pharaoh and all his gang will be just like this!' declares the Lord GOD."

"They'll die along with others who are killed violently. Egypt has been given over to violence, which will carry off both it and its hordes."

I'll feed them in excellent pastures, and even the very heights of Israel's mountains will serve as verdant pastures for them in which they'll rest and feed yes, even on the fertile mountains of Israel!

I've been concerned about my holy reputation, which the house of Israel has been defiling throughout all of the nations where they've gone."

"Therefore tell the house of Israel, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm not about to act for your sake, you house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation, which you have been defiling throughout all of the nations where you've gone.

you are to tell them, "This is what the LORD says: "Watch me! I'm taking the baton that represents Joseph, which Ephraim is holding in his hand, along with his companions the tribes of Israel, and I'm going to join them with the baton that represents Judah. I'm making them a single baton, that is, a complete baton in my hand."

"The batons on which you engrave your writing are to remain right in front of them in your hand.

They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob and on which your ancestors lived. They will live in that land, along with their children and grandchildren, forever. David my servant will be their everlasting leader.

"""Many days from now in the latter years you will be summoned to a land that has been restored from violence. You will be gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which formerly had been a continuous waste, but which will be populated with people who have been brought back from the nations. All of them will be living there securely.

Pay attention! It's coming and will certainly happen,' declares the Lord GOD. "This will be the day about which I've spoken!'"'"

They'll forget their shame and all of their unfaithfulness by which they behaved so unfaithfully toward me. They will live on their land in confidence, not in fear.

The retaining wall in front of the guardhouses measured one cubit wide. It stood one cubit from the wall to the guardhouses, which were six cubits square.

There were four tables carved from stone for the burnt offering, each one and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one cubit high, on which the instruments are laid for slaughtering burnt offerings and sacrifices.

The porch was 20 cubits long and eleven cubits wide. The stairway by which it was ascended was equipped with columns attached to its side pillars, one on each side.

In front of the chambers there was an inner walkway ten cubits wide and 100 cubits wide, the openings to which were on the north.

The three part structure had no columns, unlike the courts, which is why the upper chambers were offset from the ground upward, more so than the lower and middle chambers.

Then he told me, "The north and south chamber, which are opposite the courtyard, are consecrated areas where the priests who approach the LORD will eat consecrated offerings and lay the consecrated grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings, because the area is holy.

"When they enter the outer courtyard, that is, the outer courtyard where the people are, they are to take off their garments in which they were ministering, lay them in the consecrated chambers, and put on different garments so they will not transfer holiness to the people through their garments.

From this area a measure is to be made 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide, which is to contain the sanctuary, the holiest of holy objects.

The ephah and the bath are to be of equal volume; that is, the bath is to contain one tenth of an omer and the ephah one tenth of an omer. The omer is to be the standard on which their volume measurement is to be based.