Then people will come here from the towns in Judah, from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the western foothills, from the southern hill country, and from the southern part of Judah. They will come bringing offerings to the temple of the Lord: burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense along with their thank offerings. ¹ 

Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians who are besieging it will live. They will escape with their lives. ¹ 

I, the Lord, say that shepherds will once again count their sheep as they pass into the fold. ¹  They will do this in all the towns in the southern hill country, the western foothills, the southern hill country, the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, and the towns of Judah.’ ² 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem ¹  and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion. ² 

For I, the Lord, affirm that ¹  I will soon give the order and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it and capture it and burn it down. I will also make the towns of Judah desolate so that there will be no one living in them.”’”

פ (Pe) Zion spread out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob; his neighbors ¹  have become his enemies. Jerusalem has become like filthy garbage ²  in their midst. ³ 

ת (Tav) As if it were a feast day, you call ¹  enemies ²  to terrify me ³  on every side. ⁴  On the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has finished off those healthy infants whom I bore ⁵  and raised. ⁶ 

As I watched, I noticed ¹  a windstorm ²  coming from the north – an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, ³  such that bright light ⁴  rimmed it and came from ⁵  it like glowing amber ⁶  from the middle of a fire.

I saw an amber glow ¹  like a fire enclosed all around ²  from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it,

Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp ¹  against it! Post soldiers outside it ²  and station battering rams around it.

A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. ¹  A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, ²  and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

before your evil was exposed? Now you have become an object of scorn to the daughters of Aram ¹  and all those around her and to the daughters of the Philistines – those all around you who despise you.

I acted for the sake of my reputation, ¹  so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived, ²  before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ³ 

He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will build a siege wall against you, erect a siege ramp against you, and raise a great shield against you.

They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely ¹  when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

“Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I have spoken in my zeal and in my anger, because you have endured the insults of the nations.

From the base of the ground to the lower edge is 3½ feet, ¹  and the width 1¾ feet; ²  and from the smaller ledge to the larger edge, 7 feet, ³  and the width 1¾ feet;

The prophet ¹  is a watchman ²  over Ephraim ³  on behalf of God, ⁴  yet traps ⁵  are laid for him along all of his paths; ⁶  animosity rages against him in the land ⁷  of his God.

The Lord responded ¹  to his people, “Look! I am about to restore your grain ²  as well as fresh wine and olive oil. You will be fully satisfied. ³  I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.

For just as you ¹  have drunk ²  on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. ³  They will drink, and they will gulp down; they will be as though they had never been.