and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies. “‘“I declare to you that the Lord will build a dynastic house ¹  for you!

An edict was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem requiring the people to bring to the Lord the tax that Moses, God’s servant, imposed on Israel in the wilderness. ¹ 

And this very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard the matter concerning the queen will respond in the same way to all the royal officials, and there will be more than enough contempt and anger!

But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ¹  I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter, as ²  I declare all the things you have done.

we will not hide from their ¹  descendants. We will tell the next generation about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts, ²  about his strength and the amazing things he has done.

A well-written song ²  by Ethan the Ezrachite. I will sing continually ³  about the Lord’s faithful deeds; to future generations I will proclaim your faithfulness. ⁴ 

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.’

Look, I will take control of his mind; ¹  he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down ²  with a sword in his own land.”’”

you whom I am bringing back ¹  from the earth’s extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions – I told you, “You are my servant.” I have chosen you and not rejected you.

This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, ¹  the one who formed him, concerning things to come: ²  “How dare you question me ³  about my children! How dare you tell me what to do with ⁴  the work of my own hands!

who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand ¹  what has not yet occurred, who says, ‘My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire,’

You were complacent in your evil deeds; ¹  you thought, ²  ‘No one sees me.’ Your self-professed ³  wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ ⁴ 

I announced them to you beforehand; before they happened, I predicted them for you, so you could never say, ‘My image did these things, my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains ¹  the feet of a messenger who announces peace, a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ² 

Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ¹  They are always telling lies. ²  Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ³ 

How long will they go on plotting ¹  to make my people forget who I am ²  through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors ³  did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. ⁴ 

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.

Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some ¹  of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, “You deserve to die! ² 

So do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim to predict the future by divination, ¹  by dreams, by consulting the dead, ²  or by practicing magic. They keep telling you, ‘You do not need to be ³  subject to the king of Babylon.’

For I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you ²  listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.” ³