Listen to me, you who know what is right, you people who are aware of my law! ¹  Don’t be afraid of the insults of men; don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

All their watchmen ¹  are blind, they are unaware. ²  All of them are like mute dogs, unable to bark. They pant, ³  lie down, and love to snooze.

We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord; we turned back from following our God. We stir up ¹  oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ² 

They sit among the tombs ¹  and keep watch all night long. ²  They eat pork, ³  and broth ⁴  from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.

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 

I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹  That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. ² 

Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie! ¹ 

King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. ¹  He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face. ² 

“Go to the Rechabite community. ¹  Invite them to come into one of the side rooms ²  of the Lord’s temple and offer them some wine to drink.”

When they had heard it all, ¹  they expressed their alarm to one another. ²  Then they said to Baruch, “We must certainly give the king a report about everything you have read!” ³ 

I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. ¹  They will winnow her and strip her land bare. ²  This will happen when ³  they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her. ⁴ 

not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ¹  – surely if ²  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

Therefore you will no longer see false visions and practice divination. I will rescue my people from your power, and you ¹  will know that I am the Lord.’”

Realize ¹  that to them you are like a sensual song, a beautiful voice and skilled musician. ²  They hear your words, but they do not obey them. ³ 

You exalted yourselves against me with your speech ¹  and hurled many insults against me ²  – I have heard them all!

Daniel then spoke to the warden ¹  whom the overseer of the court officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

The vision of the evenings and mornings that was told to you is correct. ¹  But you should seal up the vision, for it refers to a time many days from now.”

Then with smooth words he will defile ¹  those who have rejected ²  the covenant. But the people who are loyal to ³  their God will act valiantly. ⁴ 

They ¹  utter empty words, ²  taking ³  false oaths and making empty ⁴  agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds ⁵  in the furrows of a plowed field.

He struggled ¹  with an angel and prevailed; he wept and begged for his favor. He found God ²  at Bethel, ³  and there he spoke with him! ⁴