He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered ¹  their young men in their temple. ²  He did not spare ³  young men or women, or even the old and aging. God ⁴  handed everyone over to him.

So Jeshua appointed both his sons and his relatives, ¹  Kadmiel and his sons (the sons of Yehudah ² ), to take charge of the workers in the temple of God, along with the sons of Henadad, their sons, and their relatives ³  the Levites.

so that he may initiate a search of the records ¹  of his predecessors ²  and discover in those records ³  that this city is rebellious ⁴  and injurious to both kings and provinces, producing internal revolts ⁵  from long ago. ⁶  It is for this very reason that this city was destroyed.

On the fourth day we weighed out the silver, the gold, and the vessels in the house of our God into the care ¹  of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest, and Eleazar son of Phinehas, who were accompanied by Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui, who were Levites.

All the men of Judah and Benjamin were gathered in Jerusalem within the three days. (It was in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of that month.) All the people sat in the square at the temple of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the rains.

For we have been sold ¹  – both I and my people – to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.”

So I reflected on all this, ¹  attempting to clear ²  it all up. I concluded that ³  the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God; whether a person will be loved or hated ⁴  – no one knows what lies ahead. ⁵ 

You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider ¹  and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me. ² 

For the Lord says, ‘I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. ¹  You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. ²  I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.

For I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that the time will come when I will reverse the plight ²  of my people, Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors ³  and they will take possession of it once again.’” ⁴ 

I took both copies of the deed of purchase ¹  and gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. I gave them to him in the presence ²  of my cousin ³  Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and all the Judeans who were housed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

Tell King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘The Lord says, “You burned the scroll. You asked ¹  Jeremiah, ‘How dare you write in this scroll that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and wipe out all the people and animals on it?’” ² 

So ¹  all these officers and their troops came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite. ² 

For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations ¹  from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. ²  Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier ³  who does not return from the battle empty-handed. ⁴ 

Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women – wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!” So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.

and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ¹  on all their wrists ²  and make headbands ³  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ⁴  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally.

and say to the scrub land of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ¹  I am about to start a fire in you, ²  and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The flaming fire will not be extinguished, and the whole surface of the ground from the Negev to the north will be scorched by it.

you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom; ¹  the end of your years has come. ²  Therefore I will make ³  you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands.

Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured the jambs of the porch as 8¾ feet ¹  on either side, and the width of the gate was 24½ feet ²  and the sides ³  were 5¼ feet ⁴  on each side.